Abstract
Novice teachers begin their careers with certain instructional ideals; however, in practice, novice teachers tend to enact classroom practices that only partially align with these ideals—a phenomenon referred to as the problem of enactment. This article explores this phenomenon by investigating the classroom thinking of three novice teachers. Using stimulated-recall interviews, these teachers were asked to describe the deliberative decisions they made while teaching and to rate how well these decisions aligned with their instructional ideals. It was found that when novice teachers perceived only partial alignment between their enacted decisions and their instructional ideals, teachers tended to experience simultaneous practical intentions. I argue that, as teacher educators attempt to address the problem of enactment, they must deepen their appreciation for the cognitive challenge of balancing simultaneous practical intentions. The real-time negotiation between multiple goals and concerns can be considered to be a core practice of teaching.
Recommended Citation
Zimmerman, Aaron Samuel
(2017)
"Knots in Thinking and the Problem of Enactment: Exploring the Classroom Thinking of Three Novice Teachers,"
Mid-Western Educational Researcher: Vol. 29:
Iss.
4, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/mwer/vol29/iss4/4
