Preservice Experiences and ResponsibilitiesAuthor(s): Jack L. ShoreSource: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 25, No. 5 (Feb., 1972), pp. 397-399Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20193001 .

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Preservice

experiences and

responsibilities

JACK L. SHORE

Jack L. Shore is principal of the Echo Lake Elementary School in Seattle, Washington. Many readers will be interested in

impressions he gathered?from faculty of nineteen elementary schools in Shoreline School

District, King County?as to the kinds and scope of skills looked

for in reading specialists.

? FTER discussing what should be the preservice experience

and teaching responsiblities of

specialists in reading with my own

staff, I decided to take the topic afield. To question the faculties of a variety of elementary schools and to get their reactions, I visited nineteen schools in King County,

Washington.

It was interesting to me that most of the responses were offered as questions: Has the specialist

worked with primary youngsters as an observer, as a teacher's aide,

and as a tutor? Can she provide learning experiences at the learn

ing level of all the children for whom she is responsible? Does she relate the learning experiences to the now world of the child? Does she evaluate not only the child's

performance but also her own per

formance with children, teachers, and parents? Can she make as

signments that fit the needs of children?

As I went from school to school, I sensed that the same responses

were being repeated, albeit the

wording changed here and there. As I compared the responses I found they fell nicely into eight general categories. Upon examin

ing them, I found that those that related to teaching responsibilities implied corresponding preservice experiences. These questions im

ply, then, the kinds of preservice experiences that specialists in

reading should have. The eight categories cover 1)

human relationships; 2) learning theory; 3) language; 4) tools of

communication; 5) evaluation; 6) approaches to reading; 7) inde

397

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pendent reading; and 8) children's interests in books. I have ordered them in what I personally feel is their order of importance to the child.

How well do reading specialists relate to people? Have they had

experience with Black and White? Chicano and Makah? slow and

average? retarded and gifted? Will

they respect the dialects that

youngsters bring to the classroom? Have they worked successfully with primary children? with inter mediate youngsters? Do they work well with classroom teachers?

principals? Can they utilize the

nurse, social worker, and psychol ogist as resource people? Can they confer with parents?

How well informed are they about how kids learn? To what ex tent does their performance dem onstrate the awareness that all children have natural potential for

learning? that kids learn mostly through their senses? that the basis for all learning is each

youngster's own activity as he in

teracts with his physical and social environment? that children learn best in an environment that moti vates and nurtures success? that

feedback, discovery, stress, and

transfer also foster learning?

How well do they understand the language children bring to

school? that language is behavior? that children develop a variety of behaviors and competencies in lan

guage before they go to school? that talk involves body movements, facial expressions, touch, highs and lows, softs and louds? that a

child's basic vocabulary includes what he possesses, understands,

and uses? that the basis for read

ing instruction should be the Ian

guage and thinking of each child? that a child's performance in read

ing and writing will not surpass his ability to understand and use

the spoken language? that talk and other tools of communication are

inextricably interrelated?

How well can they teach the

many tools of communication? Can they provide a good speech environment? record pupil talk?

carry on choral reading and choral

speaking, dramatization, role play

ing, improvisations, puppetry, and use listening posts? Do they under stand the alphabetic principle? en

courage fun with the alphabet, using approaches such as secret

codes? Can they sequence lessons to attain phonic objectives, develop structural analysis, word building, and work toward linguistic flu

ency? Do they know how to ex

pand the kernel sentences into more complex structures? Do they coordinate reading and writing activities, literature and language learnings?

How well do they appraise chil dren? Can they construct or select and administer an informal read

ing inventory, an attitude and in terest inventory, and other tests as needed? Are they good observ ers of children? Do they analyze case study results? Do they use

questions as a diagnostic tool? Can

they determine the readiness needs of a child, small group, or class?

Do they translate children's needs

based on test results into rec

ommended classroom practices utilizing recommended relevant materials easily acquired? Do they make appraisals periodically to

find whether or not they are re

ducing the gap between the func tional reading level of each child and his grade placement?

398 The Reading Teacher February 1972

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How well do they know and use

many approaches to reading? Do

they know how to tune into a

child's nervous system when the

language experience approach is called for? Would they use a field

trip as a common experience for classroom discussion and class

recording? Can they demonstrate the phonemic approach empha sizing sound-letter relationships,

word order and meaning, sentence

patterns, and paragraph patterns, and present words in phonemic and graphemic groups? Do they know a variety of basal readers and their controlled vocabulary ap

proach? Have they successfully guided youngsters step-by-step through the acquisition of reading skills using programed instruc tion? Do they know how to extend the language experiences of chil

dren and develop an individualized

reading approach? Can they be

eclectic, selecting those approaches that best serve the needs of chil dren in their care?

How well do they know how to

develop independent reading? Do

they develop basic library skills and familiarity with library tools? Do they assist children in book selection? Do they encourage wide

reading of literature, and use in

quiry and discovery techniques? Can they develop excellent reading habits and the habit of reading itself? Do they encourage book

sharing, both individual and

group? Can they extend learning through reading?

How well do they know what children are reading? Will they help children unravel the secret of Esta Maude?find out the reac

tions of children to James' experi ences with the Giant Peach-?

motivate the youngsters to travel

with Pagoo and share Pagoo's many adventures? How well do

they know Henry Huggins? Will

they discover whether Old Yeller has the courage of a lion, or wheth er Mrs. Frankweiler likes Jamie and Claudia?

I think that my categories of

questions and the subquestions faithfully reflect the concerns of those who work with our public school children. Nowhere do I see

in them a request or exhortation that specialists in reading serve as

clinicians in clinical set-ups in an

elementary school.

Speaking as a principal, I am

giving you my bias that public education cannot afford reading clinics in elementary schools. The

questions my respondents raised

imply that specialists in reading should operate in the space?

whether it be in the hall, on the

stage, in the lunchroom?and with the materials and the equipment that are available within the mon

etary limits of the building or dis trict within which they work. I

hope to work with reading special ists able to answer positively the

questions we have asked.

And as a principal, I hope that

they will have the willingness to take a risk with the kinds of kids I have in my building. If they need encouragement, I will give it to them. If they need freedom to operate, they have it. If they

need my support or the support of the rest of my staff, and my com

munity, I will work to see that

they have it.

One final and abiding plea, "Dear Reading Specialist, will you do anything?short of immorality

?to teach these kids the tools that

they need to get through our sys tem as it is set up?"

SHORE: Presemce experiences 399

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