A class of preservice teachers at rural University of Montana-Western collaborates with Ms. Seeger and Mr. Ritter, who are elementary teachers in Kansas with urban students. They provide teacher preparation students with experiences that integrate literacy instruction with culture. The preservice teachers exchange personal essays with Ms. Seeger’s and Mr. Ritter’s fourth grade students on topics such as, "How I Learned to Read and Write," "What I Read at Home," and "What We Learned from Each Other." Ms. Seeger and Mr. Ritter meet online with the education classes to analyze student work—both the fourth graders’ and the undergraduates’—and discuss ways that attention to cultural context can enhance the teaching of literacy.
