Teachers’ Rationale and Procedures used during Lesson Script Deviations

Abstract

This study addressed the rationale that teachers of students with emotional or behavioral disorders, specific learning disabilities, and moderate to severe academic difficulties offer for deviating from mathematics lesson scripts and the alternative procedures they use during script deviations. Results from analysis of interviews indicated that teachers deviated from lesson scripts so that lessons would become “their own” and they could employ their own personal style of delivery. However, when these instructors deviated from scripts, they primarily engaged in academic behaviors and delivered instruction using wording similar to the lesson scripts, and they maintained a similar style of lesson presentation. The rationales that teachers offered for engaging in script deviations were grouped into four distinct themes: student level of performance, set-up for success, prevention, and management. Teachers’ supplementary procedures were categorized into (a) academic and (b) disciplinary. This study provided insight into the thought processes that teachers engaged in as they considered script deviations and the methods they used to integrate effective instructional and management practices into their mathematics instruction.