Exploring Reading Instructional Decisions Through a Reflective Activity: A First Step in the Change Process

Abstract

This article describes a reflective activity that may be used by teacher educators and educational consultants to help teachers identify factors that influence their reading instructional decisions as a first step to educational change. The reflective activity consists of two parts: developing individual concept webs and writing narrative details that explain the webs. Seventy-five elementary school teachers completed the activity. Through the use of a modified constant comparative method, four core categories of factors were found to influence reading instructional decisions: professional controls, significant others, teacher uniqueness, and professional development. Excerpts from teacher narratives illustrate the four categories. Implications for using the reflective activity to facilitate educational change are presented.