Why Can’t Students Just Do as They’re Told?! An Exploration of Incorrect Responses

Abstract

A major emphasis in teacher preparation is class management. Management strategies focus primarily on student compliance with teacher directives. Therefore, discrepant student responses are often interpreted as being off-task or misbehavior. This study investigated alternative explanations for “incorrect” responses. One 2nd-grade class, one 4th-grade class, and their teacher were observed for 6 weeks. Students and the teacher were interviewed. Qualitative analysis uncovered three major themes related to student responses to teacher directives during physical education instruction: (a) Children participated in the instructional setting at their own developmental level of understanding and physical competency. (b) Comprehension did not necessarily reflect understanding. (c) Shared meaning existed primarily for management. The results suggest that future research examine the influence of different types of management emphases on the development of skills.