EMPOWERING PRESERVICE TEACHERS THROUGH TUTORING CHRONICALLY ILL CANCER PATIENTS.

STUDENT teachers; TUTORS & tutoring; CANCER patients; TEACHER-student relationships; STUDENT teaching; EDUCATIONAL programs

When preservice teacher programs are failing to adequately prepare collegiate students towards becoming thriving teachers, what can be done? After many complaints were voiced from my student body, a survey was constructed, which revealed student satisfaction levels were lowest in the following areas: 1) The variety of opportunities to teach exceptional learners, 2) Opportunities to establish rapport with students, and 3) Opportunities to teach one-on-one or small group. As a result, field experiences were redesigned to specifically address these curricular breakdowns by pairing preservice educators with cancer patients to provide meaningful tutoring experiences that would be mutually beneficial to both populations in need. The pilot program had several positive effects on the educational growth and abilities of both the preservice teachers and chronically ill patients. Not only was the program enjoyable by its participants, but it allowed the collegiate students to identify strengths and weaknesses of the child, develop/execute a remediation plan, and interact with a student for a considerable length of time. Tutoring these children/adolescents with cancer fostered a desire to support these individuals with their education and beyond, which could not have been possible without experiencing how one can teach outside the confines of a school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Education is the property of Project Innovation Austin LLC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)