Novice Teachers: Do They Use What We Teach Them?

Teacher educators frequently engage in some rather agonizing soul searching regarding their effectiveness in preparing preservice teachers. Students pass through their classes, go on to other classes, and eventually they are in the real world of the classroom. Teacher educators seldom get direct feedback from students as to the relevance or the value of the instruction they received. Lacking this feedback, teacher educators who teach from a whole language perspective frequently question whether students actually use the instructional strategies they were taught in their reading courses, or whether they choose the more traditional basal reader approach