A national study of English teacher preparation in U.S. colleges and universities revealed that faculty address changes in content and context salient to English education, particularly curricular, demographic, political, and technological changes, through initiatives at both the program and methods course levels. Programs require many hours of…

This article examines student teachers' investigations of issues related to writing pedagogy, response, and evaluation in an English methods course, including their use of descriptive review of student writing (Carini, 2001) to analyze adolescents' work collaboratively. Beginning with an examination of prevailing understandings of writing…

Within the field of writing teacher education, scholars and practitioners agree that effective writing instructors (at both the P--12 and postsecondary levels) are not simply cognizant of composition pedagogies, rhetorical theories, and their students' unique learning needs. Effective writing instructors also regularly…

This article explores one element of collaborative practice: the integration of English language learner-focused instruction and discussion in a secondary English methods course. Drawing on the authors' expertise, they examine revisions made to a secondary English methods course to better address the academic and individual needs of diverse…

Reviews a number of books for language arts methods course instructors that address a tension between their professional obligation to represent a broad range of theoretical issues current in the field and their students' urgent desire for practical skills and information that will help them get an English class up and running. (TB)

Presents the findings of a questionnaire survey of 100 American colleges and universities regarding language arts methods courses and topics. (DD)

Describes six texts designed for use in language arts methods courses for elementary school teachers. (DD)

Discusses, through a dialogue between an education professor and a student, a course entitled "Teaching Language Arts in the Elementary School." Describes selected aspects of the course, including purpose, plans, and results. Explains how the course helped prepare the student for teaching and how the dialogue helped the professor refine the…

Although he may not have spoken quite as eloquently as the Bard of Avon, Ernie Page, the author's methods instructor at Penn State, once said that teaching English was less a subject and more a predicament. He was alluding to the many complexities and range of subject matter that constitute teaching the English language arts. In the 30 years since…

Presents reminiscences of a former editor of "English Education," discussing English teacher education during the 1970s and some of the difficult transitional moments during that era. Discusses methods courses, changes in the curriculum, and outside critics of English education. (TB)

The coeditors of the special Summit issue of English Education provide the context for the "crucial moment" that prompted the Conference on English Education (CEE) to take up the task of rethinking issues related to the preparation and continuing professional development of English language arts teachers and teacher educators. The process of…

Preservice teachers often enter English language arts teacher preparation courses with untapped fears of writing and teaching writing due to null or bad experiences as K-12 students. In this article, I follow two preservice elementary teachers through a semester long methods course and reveal how they developed positive, clear images of themselves…