Teachers Decision Making

Abstract Researchers frequently suggest that effective teachers adapt their teaching to navigate the complexity of classroom literacy instruction. However, little research has examined how teachers adapt their instruction, teachers' reflections on their adaptations, or the instructional conditions in which they adapt. To address this gap in the research literature, the study reported here used instrumental case studies to examine two third grade teachers' literacy instruction.

Personal practical knowledge is the intersection of self, family, and society. Teachers attribute their views about CPI to their personal life experiences. Teachers create the possibility of imaginative engagement with CPI. a b s t r a c t This study explores teachers' personal practical knowledge and curricular-instructional gatekeeping as they relate to the teaching of contemporary controversial public issues in Taiwan (e.g., national identity, sovereignty, and ethnic issues). Using a case study design, this study documents how six social studies teachers make curricular decisions about teaching controversial public issues by making use of their personal practical knowledge. Findings illuminate that personal practical knowledge plays a role in teacher's curricular-instructional gate keeping in socially divisive contexts. In sum, this study, refracted through the national context of Taiwan, helps us understand the relationship between a teacher's own imaginative worldview, their sense of personal and professional identity, and their classroom teaching practices.

Teachers make numerous decisions each day, yet processes undergirding these decisions are elusive and have not been the subject of many in-depth investigations within special education. The purpose of this qualitative investigation, therefore, was to complete a micro-level analysis of the influence of curriculum on 11 middle school teachers’ decisions regarding reading instruction for middle school age struggling readers. Using the theoretical framework of teachers’ literacy related decision making proposed by Ruppar, Gaffney, and Dymond, the authors conducted interviews and observations during one school year to examine how teachers make curricular decisions based on their access to a prescribed, research-based reading intervention curriculum. Findings indicate the availability of such a curriculum facilitated teachers’ decision making around individualizing instruction and increased their self-efficacy, leading to the conclusion that a bidirectional relationship exists between curriculum and (a) beliefs, (b) self-efficacy, and (c) individualization. Implications for future research and practice in middle school teacher preparation are discussed.

This study explores texts used in four 7th-11th grade teachers' history/social studies lessons and these teachers' perspectives about the texts. Specifically, data from interview and observation field notes were analyzed to determine (a) the number, types, and modes of texts teachers used in their lessons and (b) teachers' perspectives on the what, why, and how of their text selections and uses in their lessons. The data demonstrated a relation between the number, types, and modes of texts teachers used in their lessons and the focus of teachers' explanations about text selection and uses. The results of this study suggest that the teachers' textual decisions in their lessons may relate to their reasoning about syntactic structures of the discipline of history. In particular, the extent to which and how teachers framed literacy as an integrated tool to engage students in historical inquiry varied among teachers. This variation was related to the number, types, and modes of texts they used in their lessons.

This study of two successful first grade teachers examines the
forces that guide their instructional decisions. Findings reveal the
complexities of forces that influence the moment-to-moment
decisions made by these teachers. Teachers repeatedly attempted to
balance their desires to be student-centered while addressing state
standards and implementing their schools’ adopted curricula, with
varying levels of success. The teachers’ professional knowledge was
the determining factor in that success. Levels of professional
development and the professional learning communities of these
two teachers and the contexts in which they were operating
influenced their attention to certain forces. Findings from this
study indicate that building teachers’ professional knowledge
through coaching and long-term professional development can
improve teacher decision making.

This study provides insight into the teaching decisions made during writing instruction and explains the relationship between the teaching points made in guided writing conferences and the instructional decisions made during interactive writing. Findings indicate that many writing skills, including craft, can be supported in guided writing as well as in interactive writing. Teaching points from guided writing conferences can inform teaching decisions made during interactive writing. When structured as complementary processes, guided writing informs interactive writing and teaching points become automatic and intuitive.
Keywords: decision making, teaching decisions, interactive writing, writing conferences

This paper is based on a qualitative study that explored the classroom assessment practices of twelve mathematics teachers in a Maltese sixth form college. As part of the data gathering process, these teachers were presented with four tasks (which varied along a continuum from the traditional examination-type to the non-traditional type) and were asked to comment about the appropriateness of using them inside their classroom. The analysis revealed that teachers’ task selection largely reflects what they consider ‘to work within their context’ rather than what they consider as ‘ideal’. Three levels of context that influence, both on their own and interactively, the way in which teachers make their classroom decisions were identified. These are the national, school and personal contexts.

As an initial part of a new SSHRC-funded 4-year study, this review utilizes an extensive literature search of the Anglophone literature related to plurilingualism in order to summarize the empirical work that has focused to date on related concrete classroom treatment options. We note that the previous trends within this literature bear many similarities to the notion of plurilingualism, especially in terms of the problematization of decontextualized and standardized orientations towards language. Even though there are important caveats to be considered, we argue that plurilingualism is not simply a matter of “old wine in new bottles” and that the notion offers valuable conceptual insights. At the same time, we acknowledge that teachers have a right to be suspicious of the latest fashions within second language education and criticize the attitude that practitioners should automatically adhere to the recommendations proposed by theorists. Real curriculum innovation depends on understanding the nature of teaching practice and decision-making and argue that much depends on working collaboratively with teachers to see what works concretely in the classroom. The study related to this review is aimed to do precisely that.

As an initial part of a new SSHRC-funded 4-year study, this review utilizes an extensive literature search of the Anglophone literature related to plurilingualism in order to summarize the empirical work that has focused to date on related concrete classroom treatment options. We note that the previous trends within this literature bear many similarities to the notion of plurilingualism, especially in terms of the problematization of decontextualized and standardized orientations towards language. Even though there are important caveats to be considered, we argue that plurilingualism is not simply a matter of “old wine in new bottles” and that the notion offers valuable conceptual insights. At the same time, we acknowledge that teachers have a right to be suspicious of the latest fashions within second language education and criticize the attitude that practitioners should automatically adhere to the recommendations proposed by theorists. Real curriculum innovation depends on understanding the nature of teaching practice and decision-making and argue that much depends on working collaboratively with teachers to see what works concretely in the classroom. The study related to this review is aimed to do precisely that.

Informed by complexity research and models for analyzing conditions in complex adaptive systems such as schools, I describe findings from a descriptive case study of influences on teacher decision-making about writing instruction in a high-stakes writing assessment grade. I highlight how the use of complexity as a theoretical framework for research provides a unique look at education systems, particularly looking at one teachers decisions across a school semester. I focus specifically on two conceptual models from the field of human systems dynamics (HSD), one used as a conceptual framework for complex adaptive systems, and the other used as a retrospective analysis tool in describing and explaining underlying conditions at work at a particular time for a particular decision.

Informed by complexity research and models for analyzing conditions in complex adaptive systems such as schools, I describe findings from a descriptive case study of influences on teacher decision-making about writing instruction in a high-stakes writing assessment grade. I highlight how the use of complexity as a theoretical framework for research provides a unique look at education systems, particularly looking at one teachers decisions across a school semester. I focus specifically on two conceptual models from the field of human systems dynamics (HSD), one used as a conceptual framework for complex adaptive systems, and the other used as a retrospective analysis tool in describing and explaining underlying conditions at work at a particular time for a particular decision.

In this study 24 content area teachers' decisions about what adjustments to make in their preplanned follow-up discussion routines were examined. Transcriptions of video recorded  post-reading discussions were among several other data sources.