Abstract
Improving opportunities for under-served (and all) students to learn mathematics requires shifts in what teachers know and can do. This chapter explores teachers' opportunities to learn: How might collaborative inquiry support them to make such shifts? In particular, the chapter explores co-teaching as a possible solution to the complex challenge of implementing reform-based mathematics pedagogy in primary (elementary) mathematics classrooms. It draws on the voices of teachers who worked together to develop ambitious, talk-based pedagogies in their classrooms where the use of “talk moves” was a particular focus for their shared work. It examines the transformative power of co-teaching as a feature of the teachers' collaborative activity, outlining three fields of practice that interacted to expand teachers' possibilities for action: their enacted practice, their conversations about practice, and their noticing of student thinking within practice. Working across difference served as catalyst and context for the transformation of teachers' practices.
TopIntroduction
For educators in Aotearoa New Zealand, inequity in mathematics teaching | learning is an enduring challenge that has proven difficult to address. Some groups of learners experience significant and persistent underachievement. Improving opportunities for under-served (and all) students to learn mathematics requires shifts in what teachers know and can do. Teachers create the conditions within which mathematics can be learned, and so developing new, more equitable, teaching practices is central to addressing the persistent problem of underachievement for some. This raises the question of what opportunities teachers have, and how they can be supported, to make such shifts; specifically, how can teachers develop new, more equitable, teaching practices in the context of their day-to-day work?
This chapter examines how teachers’ collaborative inquiry might address the complex challenge of implementing reform-based mathematics pedagogy in primary (elementary) mathematics classrooms. It draws on the voices of teachers who worked together to develop ambitious, discourse-based pedagogies in their classrooms where the use of “talk moves” (Chapin & O’Connor, 2007) was a particular focus for their shared work. The chapter specifically explores the transformative potential of co-teaching as a feature of the collaborative inquiry of groups of teachers who wanted to improve mathematics teaching | learning in their classrooms.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Teacher Learning: The multiplicity of events that might constitute learning opportunities for teachers, including both the deliberately planned-for events that are often described as professional development, and the wide-ranging situations, experiences, and opportunities from which teachers may learn.
Collaborative Inquiry: Teaching as an inquiry-focused activity enacted in collaboration with colleagues.
Teaching | Learning: Emphasizes the reciprocal nature of teaching and learning which are assumed to constitute one whole. That is, without learning, teaching cannot be said to have occurred, and, similarly, teaching can be said to fundamentally involve learning.
Reflection: Examining and making sense of teaching events for the purpose of informing future teaching practice.
Co-Teaching: Two teachers co-planning, co-instructing, and co-reflecting on lessons together, both as active participants in the teaching activity.
Noticing: The practice of paying attention to and making sense of specific aspects of classroom events.
Aotearoa New Zealand: Includes both the English and Maori (Indigenous) names for the country, which are used either interchangeably or together in a wide range of official contexts.
Talk Moves: A set of explicit instructional teacher moves used to orchestrate academically productive discussions, for example “revoicing” students’ explanations, or pressing students to justify their thinking.