Descriptions of Two Novice Secondary Teachers' Planning

ABSTRACT

Longitudinal descriptions were made of two novice secondary Teachers' instructional planning practices, one in middle school social studies and the other in high school mathematics. These two teachers were followed from the student teaching semester through the end of the first year of teaching. Data were collected using tape-recorded interviews, questionnaires, an analysis of written plans, and think-aloud tape recordings of unit, weekly, and daily planning. During student teaching, each teacher used the objectives-first Hunter model; in the first year, their decisions focused initially on content and secondly on activities.

Factors that influenced both Teachers' planning included cooperating Teachers' planning practices, university professors' classes, textbooks, curriculum guides, and supplemental materials. First-year planning concerns included how to resolve philosophical differences with colleagues, determine student grades, manage student behavior, make plans for substitute teachers, and plan efficiently.

Social studies seemed to be a subject in which more flexible, audio visually oriented planning was possible compared to the sequential nature of math, which necessitated less flexible, more textbook-bound planning. Planning decisions at the middle school were influenced by the team structure and fluctuations in student mood, whereas the departmental organization and the time required to make separate plans for several different subject preparations governed high school planning decisions.