Implementing a practicum in a required content area reading course

Instructors of required undergraduate content area reading courses often find it difficult to motivate interest among students in some teaching majors and worry that even the motivated students may never put into practice what is taught in class. As a partial solution to this problem, this article describes one university's tutoring practicum which is an integral part of such a course. The discussion focuses on tasks for building the capabilities needed in tutoring and techniques for insuring that those capabilities are used. Informal and formal evidence of the effectiveness of that practicum is cited.