Learning to Teach Aaron: A Beginning Teacher's Story of Literacy Instruction in an Urban Classroom

Abstract

This is Leslie Minarik's story of learning to teach Aaron, an African-American second-grader. In the third year of her teaching career, Leslie was concerned because Aaron could not read and write. The narrative unfolds through a longitudinal study of Leslie's learning to teach culturally diverse children that began with her graduate level preservice teacher education program. Through data collected during bimonthly classroom visits and monthly meetings with other program graduates, Leslie's story illustrates important influences upon her learning to teach. Her success in learning to resist norms that excluded attention to children's diverse needs eventually helped Aaron learn to read and write. The process of her learning challenges us to think about improved attention to diversity in teacher education programs.