Mathematics Teachers

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Mathematics Teachers Curriculum Use at Different
Stages of Implementation
Stephanie Behm, Gwendolyn LloydVirginia
Tech George PhilippouUniversity of Cyprus

• Edward Silver, Hala Ghousseini, Charalambos
  CharalambousUniversity of Michigan
• Valerie MillsOakland School District

• Thomas CooneyUniversity of Georgia

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Introduction

• Increased attention to students and teachers
  learning and experiences with the mathematics
  curriculum materials CMs developed in response
  to the NCTM (1989) Standards
• Some aspects of curriculum use may be constant
  across the professional continuum other aspects
  of curriculum use may be related to experience
• Papers in this symposium will appear in a
  research volume dedicated to teachers curriculum
  use (Remillard, Lloyd, Herbel-Eisenmann, in
  preparation)

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Factors Influencing Three Elementary Student
Teachers Interactions with Mathematics
Curriculum Materials

• Stephanie L. Behm
• Gwendolyn M. Lloyd
• Virginia Tech

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Rationale

• Shortage of information about preservice
  teachers use of Standards-based mathematics CMs
• One responsibility of teacher educators
• Research may help to inform professional
  development

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Background

• Perspectives on teachers curriculum use
• Fidelity
• Curriculum Interpretation
• Participation with the Text (Remillard, 2005)
• Categorizations of teachers curriculum use
• Thorough Piloting (Remillard Bryans, 2004) /
  Offloading (Brown Edelson, 2003)
• Adopting/Adaptation
• Intermittent or Narrow Use/Improvisation
• Curriculum use arenas
• Design
• Construction
• Mapping

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The Study

• Research Question What are the experiences of
  student teachers as they use Standards-based
  mathematics curriculum materials?
• 3 student teachers
• Heather 1st grade, Clayton Elementary,
  Everyday Mathematics
• Anne Kindergarten, Clayton Elementary,
  Everyday Mathematics
• Bridget Kindergarten, Walnut Street Elementary,
  Silver Burdett Ginn

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Heathers Curriculum Use

• Thorough Piloting or Offloading
• Planned lessons to coincide with the EM text
• During instruction, utilized EM teachers guide
• Made adaptations to pace lessons
• Successive lessons dependent upon next EM lesson
• Viewed curriculum as a script
• I feel like the teachers guide is a script, so
  I always have it with me because I never have it
  memorized. I just feel like if I miss a paragraph
  in the book then that will throw the whole lesson
  off. A lot of times its just too much
  information.

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Annes Curriculum Use

• Adaptation
• Made notes on the pages of the teachers guide
• Made adaptations prior to instruction to
  challenge students and extend activity length
• During instruction made further adaptations in
  response to concerns about student behavior
• Taught each lesson 4 times -- room for further
  adaptation
• Successive lessons dependent upon teachers
  choice
• Its brief what they the authors of the
  curriculum materials tell you to do, so its a
  lot of make up your own approach. Sometimes I
  write myself notes, but otherwise I just get it
  in my head and can go from there.

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Bridgets Curriculum Use

• Mixed use (piloted and adapted)
• Piloted the required SBG workbook pages however
  the State curriculum framework was the main
  resource used for determining the focus of
  lessons
• Adapted lessons from EM and activities from her
  university courses
• Lesson enactment centered on the assessment of
  students knowledge and classroom management
• Successive lesson dependent upon students prior
  work
• I had to use the workbook that you saw the
  students using. I needed to use that for every
  new thing that I did The truth is, I have to use
  what theyre giving me, but I add to it where I
  think its lacking.

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Factors Influencing Curriculum Use The Nature
of the Materials in Use
Heather Anne Bridget
Curriculum Use Thorough Piloting or Offloading Adaptation Mixed
Student Teaching Curriculum EM Grade 1 (detailed multi-page lesson guide Kindergarten EM (half-page lesson guides) Silver Burdett Ginn, and State Curriculum Framework
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Factors Influencing Curriculum Use Past
Experiences in Preservice Coursework
Heather Anne Bridget
Curriculum Use Thorough Piloting or Offloading Adaptation Mixed
Student Teaching Curriculum EM Grade 1 (detailed multi-page lesson guide Kindergarten EM (half-page lesson guides) Silver Burdett Ginn, and State Curriculum Framework
Content Courses 1 math content course (math textbook) 2 math content courses (Standards-based math curriculum materials) 2 math content courses (Standards-based math curriculum materials)
Pedagogy Courses 1 pedagogy course (Everyday Mathematics Curriculum) 1 pedagogy course (textbook with an investigative approach) 1 pedagogy course (textbook with an investigative approach)
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Factors Influencing Curriculum UseContent
Knowledge and Confidence in Teaching Mathematics
Heather Anne Bridget
Curriculum Use Thorough Piloting or Offloading Adaptation Mixed
Content Knowledge Less High High High
Confidence in Teaching Math Less High High High
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Factors Influencing Curriculum Use Individual
Student Teaching Contexts
Heather Anne Bridget
Curriculum Use Thorough Piloting or Offloading Adaptation Mixed
Student Teaching Placement Clayton Elem. (rural and suburban regions) fully accredited school Clayton Elem. (rural and suburban regions) fully accredited school Walnut Street (urban region) provisionally accredited school
Cooperating Teacher Ms. Green 5 yrs teaching experience 4 yrs experience using EM in grade 1 Ms. Roy veteran teacher, 5 yrs experience using EM in kindergarten Ms. Barrett, 4 yrs teaching experience no prior experience in kindergarten
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Discussion and Implications

• Exposure to curriculum materials during
  preservice coursework may have an impact on
  teachers curriculum use
• We need to consider the impact of exposing
  preservice teachers to conceptually and
  practically different curricular resources

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Discussion and Implications

• Teachers mathematical content knowledge and
  confidence in teaching mathematics may have an
  impact on their curriculum use
• Emphasizing strong content knowledge at the
  elementary level may be critical to flexible
  curriculum use

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Discussion and Implications

• Individual student teaching contexts impact
  teachers first experiences teaching with
  curriculum
• As teacher educators, we need to be aware of the
  placement characteristics we can manipulate

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Discussion and Implications

• Help student teachers grapple with the
  complicated nature of curriculum enactment
• Provide opportunities to explore and critique the
  specific curriculum to be used throughout student
  teaching
• Encourage a critical stance towards curriculum
  materials and curriculum use
• Work with teachers during their first planning
  and enactment experiences

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Future Research

• Continue to investigate factors that affect
  teachers curriculum use
• Studies focused on student teachers beliefs
  about curriculum and curriculum use following
  student teaching
• Longitudinal studies that follow student teachers
  into their first few years of inservice teaching
• Consider the importance of language

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Beginning Teachers Concerns Regarding the
Adoption of New Mathematics Textbooks

• Constantinos Christou
• Maria Elioshotou Menon
• George Philippou (edphilip_at_ucy.ac.cy)
• University of Cyprus

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Summary

• The authors investigate the degree to which
  Cypriot teachers in general, and novice teachers
  in particular, had accepted and felt confident in
  their ability to use the new curriculum a few
  years after the introduction of a national
  reform. The authors examine the influence the
  types of concerns teachers had regarding the
  innovation, on teachers' appraisals of the
  potential effectiveness of the new materials and
  on possible differences between novice and
  experienced teachers.
• George Philippou -- edphilip_at_ucy.ac.cy

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Considering the Confounding Nature of Teachers
Curriculum Use

• Thomas J. Cooney
• University of Georgia

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Overview

• Focus is on the nature of teachers interactions
  with curriculum materials
• The common element across the three chapters is
  that of emphasizing process over the accumulation
  of information and the extent to which teachers
  use of curriculum materials achieve this end
• Society has its own expectations of what
  mathematics teaching should be about
• I would like to focus on two issues that emerged
  from the three chapters

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Managing a Reform Oriented Classroom

• Classroom management is an important concern for
  many teachers
• In what ways does this concern interact with
  teachers use of curriculum materials?
• The notion of Critical Moments
• The notion of Didactical Contracts
• The tension between atomization and attending to
  critical moments
• How many critical moments can a teacher be
  expected to handle in a typical lesson?
• The pros and cons of scripting lessons

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The Issue of Multiplicity

• Multiplicity is at the heart of reform
• To what extent is multiplicity valued?
• Need to depolarize multiplicity and covering
  content
• Importance of Doubt and Debate when implementing
  curriculum materials
• What factors impede or facilitate a teacher
  buying into the importance of multiplicity?

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Conclusions

• Reform and Context via Use of Curriculum
  Materials
• Friedmans The World is Flat and mathematics
  education
• Avoiding indoctrination in favor of matters
  intellectual
• Taylor Epistemological reform of the
  traditional mathematics classroom is synonymous
  with cultural reconstruction
• Chapters provide existence proofs about teachers
  positive use of curriculum materials
• The three chapters put the spotlight on an
  important and rather new arena for research on
  reform in mathematics education. It has been a
  long time in coming.

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Questions?Comments?

• Thank you!