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ABSTRACT
Early career teachers (ECTs) face unprecedented pressure to fulfill expectations of ‘highly effective’ teachers within their first few years of teaching. Lesson planning is an important precursor to effective instruction, yet little is known about how the social and institutional contexts where ECTs work influences their planning. In this paper, we report findings from a large-scale study of elementary ECTs’ mathematics lesson planning practice to shed light upon the nature of ECTs’ lesson planning and factors influencing their lesson planning practice. Informed by the conceptualization of the curriculum enactment process, we present our findings of 67 ECTs’ planning practices across four school districts, with distinct profiles for each district as defined by districts’ official curriculum and the instructional materials available for teachers and students to use. We found that differences in the designated curriculum in each district corresponded with differences in how groups of ECTs utilize curricular objectives and instructional materials, and how they engage with colleagues during the lesson planning process. Implications for the preparation and induction of ECTs are discussed.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation and the William T. Grant Foundation under award numbers (NSF REAL - 1420532, WT Grant - 182764). This paper wishes to acknowledge the memory of Karen King (1971-2019), math educator, early supporter of this work, and our NSF programme officer.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1. In this paper, elementary refers to grades Kindergarten through 5. In the U.S, this would include children ages 5 through 11.
2. We noted descriptions of distributed planning in interviews with both Waters and Bengtsson ECTs. Out of 26 ECTs participating in Waters, 12 discussed distributed planning and 9 out of 18 Bengtsson ECTs mentioned distributed planning in the interviews.
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Notes on contributors
Kristen N. Bieda
Kristen N. Bieda is an associate professor of teacher education and mathematics education at Michigan State University. She is also the Associate Director of Mathematics for the CREATE for STEM Institute at Michigan State. A former mathematics teacher, Dr. Bieda's research focuses on the preparation of teachers for ambitious teaching practice, particularly early clinical experiences.
John Lane
John Lane is an Outreach Specialist in Michigan State University’s Office of K-12 Outreach. His research focuses on multiple aspects of reform including teacher learning, social contexts of teaching, school leadership, and policy.
Kimberly Evert
Kimberly Evert is an assistant professor in the Womack Educational Leadership Department at Middle Tennessee State University. Her research examines how leadership practices, professional development, and school context shape teaching practice and teachers’ perceptions of their work.
Sihua Hu
Sihua Hu is a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University. Her research examines various dimensions of teaching quality, and how teaching quality is related to mathematics teachers’ social networks within physical and virtual spaces. Dr. Hu earned a Ph.D in mathematics education from Michigan State University, and was a co-PI for an American Education Research Association conference convened in October 2018 on social media and education
Amanda Opperman
Amanda Opperman earned a Masters of Science in Mathematics Education from Michigan State University in 2019. Her primary focus as a researcher and educator has been the decision-making and mathematical teaching practices of teachers, particularly pre-service and early career teachers.
Nicole Ellefson
Nicole Ellefson is a former public school teacher who continues her work as an educator by studying how to improve the learning experiences of school aged children. Her work encompasses studying how teachers teach mathematics, finding approaches to reduce the disproportionate rates of out of school suspension for Black students, and creating Jewish educational environments that develop children’s Jewish identities for the modern era.