Teaching Reading in Rural and Urban Elementary Schools

How does geography play a role in student learning and teacher instruction? Limited research efforts reveal that the needs of students in rural and urban areas are quite distinct from other settings. It is not until exclusive qualities are determined in each environment that instructional plans can be geared to their student bodies. Addressing these sociocultural issues is crucial with an increasingly diverse population of students nationwide. Ten weeks of daily, 90-minute observations and ethnographic interviews of four classroom teachers in rural and urban elementary schools are the primary methods utilized throughout this inquiry. Participatory teachers are selected based on their school-wide reputation for being highly regarded literacy teachers. Findings are categorized into themes as several unique instructional techniques are revealed in each geographical area. Researchers, administrators, specialists, classroom teachers, and teacher candidates will find the results of this investigation intriguing and useful within their own curricular planning and practice. Implications reach across grade levels as models of effective literacy instruction can be developed.

The author is an assistant professor at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia, USA.His responsibilities include both teaching courses in reading education and researching various topics in the areas of diagnosis and remediationof reading difficulties.