Despite the centrality of math teacher educators (MTEs) in teacher education, we know little about the nature of professional learning opportunities for MTEs to develop and enhance the knowledge needed to teach prospective teachers. Existing models for supporting MTEs in developing their knowledge and practice do not address how to prepare novice MTEs in initially learning to teach prospective teachers. We present a professional learning model we have been pursuing for supporting novice MTEs and the generation of and role for community artifacts, namely lesson plans, in that model. We outline the process by which we implement, analyze, and collectively revise lesson plans so that they are continually improved over time to serve as artifacts that better instantiate what members of the local community are learning about how to support novice MTEs through identification of their problems of practice. Finally, we problematize the model we are investigating and propose implications of this model and questions raised by our work with the goal of inviting further discussion about supporting novice MTEs.
Recent research on mathematics reforms in the United States indicates that the reforms are not yet widely implemented. Generally, this claim results from looking at the extent to which teachers use curricular materials or engage in particular classroom practices. This article moves beyond disparate questions of use and practice to examine interactions between teachers and curricula as evidenced by their enactments of whole-number lessons from a Standards-based curriculum. Specifically, we analyze videorecorded 1st- and 2nd-grade classroom lessons in terms of students' opportunities to reason and communicate about mathematics. This analysis indicates that the level of fidelity to the written curriculum differs from the level of fidelity to the authors' intended curriculum during lesson enactments. Drawing on this analysis, this article explores how curricula support and hinder teachers as they engage students in opportunities to learn mathematics and how teachers' instructional moves and choices impact the enactment of curricula.
Post-secondary education has seen an explosion of interest in computer-supported collaborative learning as a pathway for teacher education. Hybrid courses potentially provide broader access to coursework while keeping costs manageable. In this chapter, the authors report on the iterated design and implementation of hybrid courses designed to prepare teachers to become elementary mathematics specialists. The authors describe a framework for building face-to-face and synchronous online sessions that complement each other, while attending to community building, the exploration of mathematical and pedagogical content, as well as the development of leadership skills and tools. They discuss how they have addressed the challenges of online coursework in their evolving course design. They present their successes and how they have capitalized on the opportunities these successes offer, and they conclude by synthesizing the lessons they have learned, the implications of our work, and the recommendations they have for moving forward.
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