Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1995

Abstract

This study reports the characteristics and strategies of 2 beginning kindergarten teachers' planning for an integrated approach to literacy instruction. Using ethnographic observational and analytic techniques, we describe features and structures of integrated instruction as a planning ''problem.'' The teachers' problem-solving strategies under the conditions of this task are also examined. Results revealed the multiple and complex nature of integrated instruction as a planning problem. Based on domain and componential analyses, the task appeared to include at least 6 kinds of planning activity and to make multiple demands on the planners' time, specificity of planning, level of pedagogical knowledge, and degree of work. Further analysis indicated a recurring pattern in the teachers' organization of their activities, suggesting a 4-phase planning model. An examination of the teachers' verbal accounts for indicators of mental processes used in their problem solving indicated strategies of the forward-search and problem-reduction type, with the former predominating. Features and structures of integrated instructional planning as a problem type are summarized from the teachers' perspective as novices. We also discuss possible implications for teacher preparation and development and areas for further research.

Comments

Roskos, Kathleen and Susan B. Neuman. "Two Beginning Kindergarten Teachers Planning for Integrated Literacy Instruction." Elementary School Journal 96.2 (1995): 195-215.

© 1995 University of Chicago Press. Original published version is available at: JSTOR.

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