An Investigation Of Time Distribution Of Pre-Service Teachers While Interning

Abstract

Student teaching is the culminating experience of most teacher preparation programs. Student teaching gives the prospective teacher the opportunity to join the worlds of theory and practice and to develop individual teaching talents. Long hours are regularly spent in several areas. This study sought to investigate how student teachers distribute their time in selected areas (observation, planning, teaching, teaching-related activities, and administrative-related activities). The sample consisted of student teachers who participated in an internship experience in agricultural education during the spring semester for the years 1999 through 2003. Document analyses were used to obtain information guided by the research objectives. The study found that student teachers spent the majority of their time observing, planning, and teaching. Slight differences in how time was distributed over the internship experience were found between males and females, where females spent more time on planning and on teaching-related activities. Student teacher learning styles also exposed differences in how time was distributed over the internship experience. Field-dependent learners spent more time on planning, whereas field-independent learners spent more time on teaching-related activities. Other differences in distribution of time were found by final performance grade for the student teaching internship. While slight differences existed in all the selected areas, the largest differences occurred in administrative-related activities where students who received an A grade spent more time than did the A- and below group.