Margaret S. Smith

Balancing Old and New: An Experienced Middle School Teacher's Learning in the Context of Mathematics Instructional Reform

In this study I examined a dilemma an experienced teacher struggled with during the first year of her involvement in a mathematics education reform project. The dilemma-ensuring student success-resulted from the tension between the teachers past practice of structuring learning opportunities so that students could experience success and her new belief that students needed to engage in complex problem solving that often required initial feelings of being unsuccessful. Data for this study included videotapes and summaries of classroom observations and professional development sessions; audiotapes and transcripts of interviews conducted with the teacher; surveys on the teachers background, beliefs, and practices; and the teachers reflections on her practice. Drawing on these data, I traced the evolution of the dilemma across the year, with particular attention to experiences that served as catalysts for the dilemma, factors that supported the resolution of the dilemma, and evidence that the dilemma stimulated teacher learning. The results suggested that the dilemma, which was embedded in the teachers attempt to develop a practice more consistent with the goals of mathematics education reform, served as a springboard for her learning. Critical factors associated with this learning were the teachers reflection on her practice as she sought to resolve the dilemma, and her interactions with teacher colleagues and university educators during the year.

Scaling Up Professional Development in an Era of Common State Standards

We describe the process and outcomes of a project aimed at bringing together a set of diverse experts to generate a set of design recommendations for what should be considered when creating, sustaining, and assessing professional development systems to support the Common Core State Standards in mathematics. Although the recommendations were generated in mathematics, the underlying guiding principles for professional development are generalizable to other disciplines. As such, we discuss implications for professional development more broadly.

Cases as a Vehicle for Developing Knowledge Needed for Teaching

In this chapter, we describe a practice-based curriculum for the professional education of preservice and practicing secondary mathematics teachers that (1) focuses on reasoning-and-proving, (2) has narrative cases as an integrated component, and (3) supports the development of knowledge of mathematics needed for teaching. We first provide an argument for the importance of reasoning-and-proving in the secondary curriculum and the unique role that cases can serve in providing opportunities to develop teachers’ knowledge of mathematics, students learning, and teaching practices. We then provide an overview of the practice-based curriculum and discuss the overarching questions that have guided its design and development. We conclude with a discussion of what teachers appeared to learn from their experiences with the curriculum, with a particular emphasis on what the narrative cases appear to have contributed to their learning.