The Effect of Planning on the Instructional Behaviors of Preservice Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the instructional behaviors of a group of preservice teachers across two teaching conditions, one planned and one unplanned. Twelve physical education teacher education (PETE) majors each taught two 25-minute lessons to elementary-age learners. Lesson plans were developed for the first lesson (planned condition) but not the second (unplanned condition). All lessons were videotaped and employed in the data analyses. Three data collection instruments were used for the analysis of selected teaching behaviors: (a) the Academic Learning Time-Physical Education (ALT-PE) system, (b) an event recording instrument for coding teacher verbal feedback statements, and (c) the Qualitative Dimensions of Lesson Introduction, Task Presentation, and Lesson Closure (QDITC) system. The results suggest that planning has a positive effect on some preservice teachers’ instructional behaviors. For teachers in training, it seems that planning is important to the employment of “effective” teaching behaviors in the interactive teaching environment.