Growth in Program Planning During the First Seven Years of Teaching: Findings of a Longitudinal Study

• In Event: A 21st-Century Education: Alternative Instructional Practices and Programs

Abstract

We are conducting a longitudinal study of 40 teachers of whom 18 have been teaching for 4 years and 22 for 7 years. In their first year, the teachers were shocked to find that program planning - and related decision making - was such a large part of their role. With time, however, the teachers developed a set of concepts and approaches in this area that we believe would be helpful to new and later-career teachers and to pre-service and in-service teacher educators. These include: seeing the limitations of formal "plans"; becoming more flexible in programming; using textbooks and other resources selectively; seeing teaching in terms of activities and strategies; and individualizing programming.

Authors

• Clive M. Beck, OISE/University of Toronto

• Clare Kosnik, University of Toronto

• Rosanne B. Brown, Peel District School Board

• Mira Gambhir, University of Toronto

• Belinda Monique Longe, University of Toronto - OISE

• Monica Eileen McGlynn-Stewart, George Brown College

• Shelley Murphy, OISE/University of Toronto

• Kirsten Tenebaum, University of Toronto