Development of a Model for Teachers' Decision Making

Abstract

The purposes of this study are : (a) to point out shortcomings found in earlier models for teacher interactive decision making, (b) to describe and illustrate an alternative model, and (c) to outline the implications of this alternative model for teaching and teacher education. The alternative model may be characterized as follows : 1. It describes three basic decision processes which teachers adopt whenever there are discrepancies between their lesson plan and the reality of the classroom situation. These are : (a) either the teacher does not realize that discrepancies may exist or chooses to ignore them, (b) the teacher realizes that there are discrepancies resulting from his or her management of the classroom, discrepancies which he or she does not wish to tolerate, therefore he or she selects a different approach from his or her repetory of alternative teaching routines, (b) the teacher realizes that there are intolerable discrepancies resulting from lesson content, therefore he or she selects an acceptable alternative from his or her understanding of the lesson structure and subject matter content. 2. It discusses the relationships between teachers' decision making processes and their understanding of the subject matter and teaching routines. The proposed model assumes that whenever any recognized and intolerable discrepancies are concerned with classroom management, teachers will scan through their own, known alternative teaching routines. However, when such discrepancies are concerned with the content of the lesson, they will rely upon their understanding of the lesson structure and subject matter content. 3. This paper also discusses the close link which exists between teachers' planning methods and interactive decision making. Teachers rely upon a monitoring schema to check upon their own thinking, the lesson plan's instructional purposes, and various classroom events. This schema also supports the teachers' decision making processes by linking their knowledge of the subject matter content to their understanding of the lesson structure. Two concrete examples of the application of this new model are also introduced, the first being related to lesson content and the second being related to classroom management.