Collaborative Planning by Two Groups of Student Teachers

Abstract

This study used Doyle's academic task framework to examine whether and in what ways a collaborative planning task (designing a 30-minute lesson in reading comprehension) directed student teachers' attention to reading comprehension and promoted problem solving. Ethnographic procedures were used to examine 6 student teachers' (2 groups of 3) interactions and written evaluations of their experience, focusing on 5 aspects of the task: (1) the lesson plan; (2) subtasks of the planning process; (3) content of interactions; (4) student teachers' thinking; and (5) student teachers' perceptions of their learning. Analysis revealed that each group developed a different instructional plan, although both worked to understand the dimension of reading comprehension under consideration (inferring causes when effects are explicitly stated) and to design a detailed instructional plan for promoting that dimension. Student teachers discussed numerous instructional activities. Various levels of thinking were observed as student teachers specified, elaborated, and evaluated each others' proposals. Student teachers generally perceived the collaborative environment as productive and supportive, although analysis of negative responses suggested the importance of trust as a feature of the task environment. Finally, the task framework was found to be a reasonable tool for studying the academic work of prospective teachers.