The role of textbooks in teachers' interactive decision making

Abstract

In this study 24 content area teachers’ decisions about what adjustments to make in their preplanned follow‐up discussion routines were examined in terms of how the textbook figured into those decisions. Transcriptions of videotaped lessons that focused on post‐reading discussions of regularly assigned content area material, teacher interviews, observer fieldnotes, and stimulated recall protocols gathered from post‐study viewing sessions were the primary data sources. A two‐dimensional content analysis of the resulting classroom interaction pattern revealed that differences existed among the content areas in terms of how the teacher used the text in making decisions about appropriate adjustments in their discussion routines. Some support was found for Clark and Peterson's (1986) revised model of teachers’ interactive decision making. That is, teachers in this study reported making decisions that were preceded by factors other than judgments about student behavior alone.