Beliefs about Content Literacy Meet 'Reality' in Secondary School Mathematics: Non-Traditional Student Teachers Share Their Experiences.

A qualitative study investigated the viewpoints and beliefs of five non-traditional secondary mathematics student teachers regarding using content literacy strategies. The five student teachers were military officers preparing for a second career as secondary mathematics teachers. Data included interviews, observations, and written materials from the subjects' preservice and student teaching experiences. Results indicated: (1) during student teaching, subjects' practice was substantially different from their beliefs concerning the use of content literacy strategies expressed at the start of the study; (2) differences appeared related to influences of cooperating teachers, perceived student needs, and curricular materials; (3) several student teachers expressed strong beliefs about appropriate instruction for students placed in differing ability groupings; and (4) an important aspect of belief which emerged relates to definitions of reading and writing in mathematics--several of the student teachers thought their students were not reading, when in fact they were solving written problems, making and reading graphs, etc. (RS)