WHATS AFTER WHATS THAT - PRESERVICE TEACHERS LEARNING TO ASK LITERARYQUESTIONS

This year-long study analyzed the effects of using carefully assisted case studies to prepare preservice teachers to be more knowledgeable a nd skilled in supporting children's response to literature. As part of an undergraduate course in children's literature, 43 preservice teach ers read weekly to individually selected children. The purposes of the assignment were (a) to expand the preservice teachers' understandings of response to literature by analyzing an individual child's response s oiler time and (b) to enhance their instructional strategies and cri tical stances toward literature. Over time, preservice teachers' quest ion types shifted in amount and content, moving from teacher dominance to child-teacher dialogue. Within the dialogue, the preservice teache rs learned to create or at least reflect on a balance between comfort and challenge. As the preservice teachers changed, the children change d as well, moving from hesitancy to confidence, even to the point of c ontradicting the preservice teachers. Additionally, the course emphasi s on questioning as well as an detailed field notes heightened preserv ice teachers' attention to the results of their own questioning strate gies, causing them to be more reflective about the content and consequ ences of their queries.