Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate preservice teachers’ views of lesson planning and their process of lesson planning. A total of 45 preservice elementary teachers participated. Preservice teachers’ various ways of organizing and preparing their instruction were analyzed through a survey, lesson plans, and a follow-up interview. The findings demonstrate that few preservice teachers considered instructional objectives to be the most important component in a lesson plan. Rather, most preservice teachers focused on content and sequencing their activities. In addition, preservice teachers prefer to use more visual forms of lesson plans (e.g., concept mapping, graphic organizer) since they often encounter unexpected changes. The findings from this research imply that teacher educators need to reconsider the format of their instructional planning.