Recognizing the importance of creating quality reading teachers, this paper describes a 15-week reading methods course incorporating university instruction with well-supervised field experience. Optimum conditions of easy access to schools and children, an abundance of basal and supplementary materials, and five hours per week of student time are assumed. One to three days of university instruction weekly, during which college students explore major reading topics through general texts and journal articles are suggested. For the remainder of the week, the paper proposes that students both observe how effective elementary and intermediate school teachers handle these topics, and develop their own lessons. The syllabus for this course, presented with suggestions for university and field assignments, includes the following topics: (1) the nature of reading, (2) the importance of language, (3) reading skills, (4) reading comprehension, (5) the Informal Reading Inventory, (6) the language experience approach, (7) basal readers, (8) individualized reading, (9) strategies for understanding narratives and expository paragraphs, (10) children's literature, and (11) grouping for instruction. Appendixes contain reading and study guides for journal articles, a glossary of reading terms, bibliographies of children's literature and guides for choosing children's books. (MM)