Mathematics Teacher Educators' Roles, Talks, and Knowledge in Collaborative Planning Practice: Opportunities for Professional Development
Open Access
- Author:
- Konuk, Nursen
- Graduate Program:
- Curriculum and Instruction
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- July 18, 2018
- Committee Members:
- E. Frances Arbaugh, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
E. Frances Arbaugh, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Andrea Vujan Mccloskey, Committee Member
Gwendolyn Monica Lloyd, Committee Member
George E. Andrews, Outside Member - Keywords:
- mathematics
co-planning
practice
knowledge
teacher educator
types of talk
roles
professional development - Abstract:
- Mathematics Teacher Educators (MTEs) argue that mathematics education needs more research that investigates and characterizes MTEs’ practice (Tirosh et al., 2014), particularly to conceptualize pedagogies of teacher education (Ghousseni & Herbtz, 2016) and to support MTEs in their professional development (Doerr & Thompson, 2004). Researchers have used different perspectives to describe and analyze the work of MTEs and have focused primarily on documenting MTEs’ knowledge, practices, and roles. Regardless of their perspectives, however, researchers agree that it is important for MTEs’ professional growth to be part of collaborative communities (Wilson & Franke, 2008). One practice identified in the literature that provides an opportunity for teacher educators to work in collaborative learning communities is co-planning (Albrecht, 2003). Despite the role of collaborative planning in professional development (Bleiler, 2015), the field knows little about the structure and nature of co-planning (Wilson, 2016), particularly in teacher education (Nevin, Thousand, & Villa, 2009). To better understand the collaborative practices of MTEs, this study investigated MTEs’ practice in the context of co-planning a methods course for secondary mathematics PTs organized around iterative Cycles of Enactment and Investigations (CEIs; Lampert et al., 2013). Using data from co-planning meetings of the communities of practice formed by four MTEs, this single embedded case study presents findings of a study of MTEs’ co-planning through the lenses of their talk, their roles, and their knowledge. Results show that collaborative planning in mathematics teacher education provides opportunities for both advancing MTEs’ teaching practices by bringing together varying skills, knowledge, and roles (Sztajn, Ball, & McMahon, 2006) and supporting MTEs’ professional growth by offering rich learning experiences (i.e., analysis, inquiry, and reflection) (Jaworski, 2008). Findings from this study support further investigations of MTEs’ collaborative practices by providing guiding frameworks for such studies (i.e., using types of talk as a tool for analysis) as well as providing practical co-planning activities that can be used to ground professional development of future and current faculty involved in mathematics teacher education.