A Tutoring Program for Prospective Secondary Mathematics Teachers

Abstract

Relevance is one of the current key words in undergraduate methods classes for prospective teachers. We have long realized that “talking about” teaching does not provide a sufficient basis even for student teaching experiences. Generally, contact with public school students is desirable prior to student teaching. However, it is often difficult to make the necessary administrative arrangements to provide additional exposure time for college students. As a partial answer to this problem, an experimental tutoring program was instituted at the University of Michigan. What follows is an account of the origin of this program and its development during the school years 1969-70 and 1970-71.