Twelve Middle-School Teachers' Planning

Case-study descriptions were made of 12 middle-school teachers' instructional yearly, unit, weekly, and daily planning on the basis of a background questionnaire, interview protocols, an analysis of written plans, think-aloud typescripts, and a questionnaire. The middle-school teachers, like elementary teachers, used a pattern of "nested" decision making in instructional planning, but unlike elementary teachers, did not engage in term planning. Instead of the rational model, Yinger's 3-stage process model provides a better description of yearly, unit, and weekly planning because teachers focused on activities rather than on objectives. At the daily level, Leinhardt's agenda-formulation model provides a closer fit than the rational model. Teachers made planning decisions on the basis of what had worked for them in the past, the school schedule, the availability of instructional materials, and the interests and abilities of students.