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Abstract

A class of music teacher education students (N = 18) served as tutors in a cross-age reading program for fourth and fifth grade students enrolled in an after-school program. The qualitative study progressed in several phases: (a) Two experts with over 60 years collective teaching experience at the elementary school level were asked to recommend the “best book available for a cross-age tutoring project that would have the greatest appeal for this age category of student.” The selected book was The Pinballs by award-winning children’s author, Betsy Byars (Byars, 1977). (b) College-age tutors were asked to read the book, write a reaction to its content and give their opinion concerning how it could be used by classroom teachers. (c) Tutors were randomly paired with after-school children who were mostly identified as being low in reading skills and/or reading fluency. (d) Each dyad participated in a one-on-one session once a week for 30 to 50 minutes lasting for 10 weeks. (e) At the end of the 10 week period, each child was asked to write a short paragraph describing their reading experience. (f) Similarly, each college student was asked to write a lengthier description of their experiences. During the study, these college tutors were under the daily supervision of the regular after-school elementary teacher who supervised the entire program. Additionally, a university music education faculty member met weekly with the elementary teacher to discuss the project. This feedback loop provided an important aspect of the study.

Keywords

elementary tutoring teacher preparation reading

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Music Teacher Education Students as Cross-Age Reading Tutors in an After-School Setting

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