Year of Award

2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Degree Name

Curriculum and Instruction

Department or School/College

Phyllis J. Washington College of Education

Committee Chair

David Erickson

Commitee Members

Morgen Alwell, Georgia Cobbs, Matt Roscoe, Ke Wu

Publisher

University of Montana

Abstract

Mathematics discourse plays a crucial role in students’ learning of mathematics, yet facilitating productive mathematics discourse is a complex task for teachers. This embedded single-case study sought to explore teacher learning around planning for and facilitating mathematics discourse and capture any changes in the nature of classroom discourse as a result of teacher learning. Teacher learning was facilitated through a professional learning community (PLC). The PLC was designed to honor, build upon, and develop teachers’ expertise in purposefully planning opportunities for student talk during mathematics instruction. It also attended to the teachers’ contexts by asking teachers to incorporate math talk strategies into their adopted non-reform mathematics textbook. The participating teachers self-facilitated the PLC using a protocol designed by the researcher, which blended elements of best practice in professional development for mathematics teachers and strategies for facilitating mathematics discourse. The teachers completed three mini-design cycles in which they selected a math talk strategy, co-planned a lesson, enacted the lesson, reflected on the experience within the PLC, and worked with their colleagues to revise the lesson based on their learning.

In examining teacher learning in the case of the PLC and examining the experience of the embedded cases of each participating teacher’s classroom, several themes emerged: (a) teachers had to re-establish classroom norms and expectations for math talk; (b) students began to drive the mathematics learning; (c) the nature of math talk in the classroom began to change; and (d) teachers had to negotiate tensions with their adopted text in terms of instructional format and pacing. While there was evidence of changing instructional practice around facilitating mathematics discourse, significant change was difficult to realize given the study’s short timeframe. However, the teachers were successful in self-directing their learning and some of them were beginning to take steps to challenge the nature of mathematics teaching presented in their adopted non-reform textbook. Therefore, while this professional development approach shows promise in terms of supporting teachers to self-facilitate instructional change around productive mathematics discourse, additional study for a longer timeframe is recommended.

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© Copyright 2016 Andria Rae Disney