Saying and Doing

Teachers' descriptions of their teaching style often is at odds with their actual behavior in the classroom as the results of a study of 20 experienced and inexperienced teachers at the University of Michigan, reported in the classic Early Childhood Development Programs and Services: Planning for Action (Columbus: Battelle Memorial Institute, 1972), indicate:

"In spontaneous interviews before and after training, both experienced teachers and beginning students expressed a preference for teaching based on the discovery model.  And, they expressed attitudes favoring a non-authoritarian or non-directive approach by the teacher.  Yet, when these teachers were observed, their teaching behavior was very different from the behavior they said they favored....  Researchers characterized the classrooms in the study as predominantly teacher-controlled or teacher-centered.  In the interviews, the teachers also preferred showing verbal concern and approval nearly three times as often as disapproval.  However, when teachers were observed and their statements were recorded, the statements characterizing support, approval, or encouragement was fewer than 10% of the total statements."

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