Teacher Decision Making
af Natalia Velazco
1. Planning Decisions
1.1. Macro and micro planning are two types of ways you can plan a lesson or overall goals for a course
1.2. These planning decisions reflect the teacher's beliefs about teaching and learning
1.3. They are made after a process of reflection in which certain aspects are taken into account such as: making sure the lesson connects to the students' previous knowledge, what the students need to be taking away from the lesson, what activities can be done to help students understand the lesson, etc.
2. Two Common Approaches
2.1. Curriculum-based approach
2.1.1. decisions related to the implementation of classroom activities are based primarily on what is pre planned according to the curriculum that needs to be followed
2.2. Student-based approach
2.2.1. decisions are based mostly on factors related to the particular group of students present in the classroom at that moment
3. Interactive Decisions
3.1. Since lessons are dynamic and to some extent unpredictable, some decisions must be made on the spot
3.2. Decisions must be made to be appropriate to the dynamic of the lesson
3.3. These decisions help teachers assess students' response to teaching and to modify their own instruction in order to improve the teaching strategy and ongoing lesson
3.4. Components of an interactive decision include:
3.4.1. Monitoring one's teaching and evaluating what is happening at a particular point in the lesson
3.4.1.1. This includes observing if the lesson is going well and letting it run its' course or stopping to intervene if necessary
3.4.2. Recognizing that a number of different courses of action are possible
3.4.3. Selecting a particular course of action
3.4.4. Evaluating the consequences of the choice