Pathways to Professional Growth: Investigating Upper Primary School Teachers’ Perspectives on Learning to Teach Algebra

Abstract

This paper discusses upper primary school teachers' perspectives on changes to their knowledge and practice through participation in a designbased research project. It analyses their experiences using Clarke and Hollingsworth's (2002)

Exploring Teacherl Learning Processes within A Community of Practicesto Serve Latina/o Biliterate Students

“…Incorporating their ideas and including them as co-inquirers, motivated them as Diamond and Powell (2011) found in their study. These findings aligned with other studies, too, that a community of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991) that included a multifaceted professional learning experience (Burke, 2013;Bertrand & Marsh, 2015;Daniels, Pirayoff, & Bessant, 2013;Kronholz, 2013;Wilkie & Clarke, 2015) provided a safe space for learning, as teachers opened up and trusted each other and were vulnerable as they shared their ideas and practices (Anderson, Feldman, & Minstrell, 2014;Bertrand & Huguet, 2015) especially in learning how to teach language (Garcia, Arias, Harris, & Serna, 2010). Similar to these studies, participants in this study, validated each other, even challenged each other, but often with laughter and support.…”

“…Diamond and Powell (2011) conducted a series of studies that showed that including teachers in the iterative process in the development of learning intervention strategies proved beneficial on many levels. This multifaceted-PLC adhered to individual needs and demonstrated a pathway to professional learning (Wilkie & Clarke, 2015). Furthermore, Lane et al (2015) found that embedding coaching between professional development days aided in teacher learning as indicated by self-reports.…”

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“…Evidence of improvements in the learning outcomes of their pupils seemed to change participants' attitudes and beliefs (cf. Guskey, 2002;Wilkie & Clarke, 2015). In addition, the study's results acknowledge that work-related teacher education may be a catalyst for building human, social and identity capacity (Schuller, 2010).…”

Teachers’ Mathematics Knowledge for Teaching Early Algebra: A Systematic Review from the MKT Perspective

“…Of note is the fact that only two of the seventeen studies address both types of participants, both early childhood education and primary teachers, pre-service. Wilkie and Clarke [61], Australia Analyze the perspectives of late primary school teachers involving their knowledge and practice of algebra.…”

“…McAuliffe and Lubben [58] focus on the explanations provided by teachers regarding the selection of examples, representations, and modifications of an algebraic task. Wilkie [59,63] and Wilkie and Clarke [61] consider the possible correct answers that teachers provide to questions that arise over the course of a certain algebraic task, and they identify recursive and explicit generalization strategies.…”