Preservice Teachers as Developmental Readers: Early Experiences

This research investigates authobiographical life histories of preservice teachers in an undergraduate children's literature class regarding their experiences with reading. Students' written authobiographical narratives describing their development as readers were analzed by using a framework namely content analysis in this qualitative study. The following themes emerged from the students' narratives; early reading experiences inside and outside of school environments; favorite books; why we are a reader or non-reader; who read to us as an infant, toddler, preschooler, and elementary school student; teachers throughout our schooling who fostered a love of reading and those who did not; and the strategies that helped us become an avid reader or discouraged avid reading.