Purpose – Lesson study in the USA provides a space for teachers to discuss classroom teaching with a goal of improving student learning. In general, US teachers’ professional lives are constrained by a lack of time for planning and observation. Within a lesson study context, we designed and utilized a web site to support and extend collaboration among teachers of mathematics at 26 school sites across two school districts. The purpose of this paper is to describe the lesson study context and share results of the investigation and affordances of the web site. Design/methodology/approach – Through the use of a survey, discourse analysis, and grounded theory, we examined how teachers used the web site and how best to foster regular and inclusive participation. Findings – The results reveal the web site spans time and distance. A significant percentage of the teachers used the web site for accessing resources, while a smaller fraction of teachers used the web site to discuss pedagogy and students’ mathematical thinking. Originality/value – The work expands the descriptive knowledge base of lesson study efforts in the US with the hybrid lesson study model that addresses the time constraints of US teachers. Also, the work addresses the challenge of geographical distance associated with facilitating communication among teachers from multiple sites.
Examples of solving equations and inequalities, analyzing quadratic expressions, and reasoning with functions show three ways to engage students in this mathematical practice.
PurposeThis paper reports on experiences of university-level mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) from participating in lesson study to improving mathematics teacher preparation. The authors investigate the questions: “What did MTEs report as benefits of participating in cross-departmental lesson study?” and “What considerations did MTEs report for stakeholders interested in lesson study?”Design/methodology/approachThis study employed qualitative methodologies on one cycle of lesson study where the authors served as lesson study participants. Debrief and focus group interview data were analyzed for emergent codes on benefits, supports and challenges from a university-level lesson study.FindingsEngaging in university-level lesson study provided MTEs firsthand professional development, created community, enabled attention to detail, improved knowledge of issues related to teaching mathematics, improved curricular materials and extended beyond one lesson. Institutional support, a natural evolution of the process, alignment of goals among members and support within the group supported their university-level lesson study. Challenges of time and funding, imposition, misalignment of goals and building trust are discussed.Originality/valueThe paper contributes insights about benefits for MTEs who use lesson study to examine their own teaching practice for mathematics teacher preparation. The importance of supports and constraints is highlighted.
This paper reports on a semester-long co-teaching investigation in which three mathematics teacher educators in the USA themselves enacted a co-plan/co-teach credentialing model in the context of a mathematics content course for future elementary teachers. The mathematics teacher educators sought to examine the co-planning practices for improving the team teaching co-teaching strategy. Data were collected from the mathematics teacher educators over fifteen weeks, including twice-weekly journal entries and classroom observation protocols. Utilizing a first-person research study design, the mathematics teacher educators found that a coplanning strategy could be used to maximize resources and improve lesson cohesion during team taught lessons. In particular, the mathematics teacher educators used co-planning meetings to divide lesson responsibilities by learning goal or by task. In this novel approach to mathematics teacher educator training, we describe the coplanning strategy along with its expansion, implementation, benefits, and limitations, and argue for its use in coteachers' co-planning repertoire.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.