This study investigated how 15 kindergarten teachers from one school district implemented small-group Guided Reading (GR). Analysis of video recordings indicates substantial differences in how GR was conducted, with none of the teachers fully implementing GR as conceptualized by Fountas and Pinnell (2012). Consistency across teachers was limited…

Increasingly alarmed by instructional mandates more founded on journalistic rhetoric and popular opinion than on research findings or practitioner expertise, researchers gathered survey data from teachers to better understand the status of K-2 phonics instruction. Data demonstrate that the overwhelming majority of these K-2 teachers teach phonics,…

Preservice teachers (PSTs) come to teacher education programs after many years as students in the K-12 school system--a system that is focused on standardized testing and inauthentic literacy practices. These experiences have shaped PSTs' personal literacy identities and their view of reading pedagogy, many times for the negative. In an effort to…

Teacher candidates (TCs) often feel underprepared for their first teaching positions. Teacher education programs are, at least partially, responsible for the level of readiness of their graduating TCs. Fortunately, teacher educators have the capacity to positively change teacher education, creating a more effective, better prepared teaching force.…

In this document analysis, the authors explored if and how Miller's (2009) "The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child" served as a symbolic model of a reading teacher who teaches her students not just the technical aspects of reading, but also how to enjoy reading. Drawing on social learning theory, the authors…

Relatively little is known about preschool teachers' read-aloud techniques with informational picture books. The purpose of this investigation was to identify similarities and differences between preschool teachers' read-aloud techniques with fictional stories, which are commonly read in preschool, and informational texts. Instrumental case study…

This article describes design-based research undertaken by two teacher educators to support elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) in integrating culturally responsive teaching practices with reading methods. The study described was motivated by calls for teacher preparation programs to be more intentional about supporting PSTs in synthesizing…

The purpose of this research was to examine how one teacher's guided reading instruction evolved while engaged in a job-embedded professional development experience across the school year. The teacher taught and debriefed multiple guided reading lessons per visit with a literacy coach. The authors employed qualitative methods to analyze the…

Educators' support when using informational text in kindergarten is foundational to children's comprehension and future learning. Prior research has not offered clear insight into their help when children experience difficulties during informational text comprehension instruction. The current study examined one kindergarten educator's support.…

In this cross-case study, we examined how two reading specialist candidates negotiated their yearlong practicum experiences in relation to university coursework and their previous teaching experience. Data sources included interviews, weekly teaching logs, and field observations. Findings reported in extended vignettes reveal how both interns were…

Although small-group guided reading is traditionally an elementary school instructional practice, this study details how high school English teachers perceived its implementation in high school classrooms. As part of a larger, multiyear research project, this 2-year study examined a dual-level coaching professional learning program that included…

This article describes a community service learning collaboration between a teacher education program and a nonprofit literacy society. Seventeen teacher candidates (TCs) tutored young readers weekly for seven months as part of their course-related field experience and completed reflective assignments analyzing their own learning and the learning…

What are indicators, or markers, of 'inclusive' reading classrooms? As elementary school teachers across the United States are increasingly required to teach reading to diverse, heterogenous groups of students within the same classroom space, practitioners and researchers seek to identify what constitutes 'inclusion' in reading instruction. This…

Current standards push for elementary students to have text-based and text-centric discussions of what they read. This study explored what bilingual third-grade students talked about during small-group text-based discussions of informational texts. The author conducted a qualitative analysis of 10 video-recorded discussions, five of books matched…

In an era of increased accountability, it is important to understand how exemplary teachers navigate the demands placed on them by their schools, districts, and states in order to support student learning aligned with their beliefs of effective instruction. To understand these negotiations, the authors examined tensions facing exemplary literacy…