Melissa's story: bridging the theory/practice gap

Abstract

This article describes a case study that explored relationships between theory and practice in a teacher candidate's learning to teach. Using a personal, narrative style, it explores one teacher-candidate's reflections about her learning with a Grade 4 student. The study was part of an innovative, inquiry-driven collaboration between school and university, and occurred during a course about teaching language and literacy in the early years (kindergarten to Grade 4) at the University of Manitoba. The student’s comments suggest how the integration of theory and practice can be facilitated when teacher education makes theory explicit, and when a teacher candidate has opportunities to reflect, experiment and dialogue actively about theory in action.