Convention All Academic Convention is the premier solution for your association's abstract management solutions needs. Submission - Custom fields, multiple submission types, tracks, audio visual, multiple upload formats, automatic conversion to pdf. Review - Peer Review, Bulk reviewer assignment, bulk emails, ranking, z-score statistics, and multiple worksheets! Reports - Many standard and custom reports generated while you wait. Print programs with participant indexes, event grids, and more! Scheduling - Flexible and convenient grid scheduling within rooms and buildings. Conflict checking and advanced filtering. Communication - Bulk email tools to help your administrators send reminders and responses. Use form letters, a message center, and much more! Management - Search tools, duplicate people management, editing tools, submission transfers, many tools to manage a variety of conference management headaches! Click here for more information.
Association: Name: North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education URL: http://www.pmena.org
Citation: URL: http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p117653_index.html Direct Link: HTML Code:

Kim, Ok-Kyeong. "The Characteristics of Two Key Teachers in a K-3 Teacher Professional Development Context" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Delta Chelsea Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Oct 21, 2004 <Not Available>. 2009-05-26 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p117653_index.html>

Kim, O. , 2004-10-21 "The Characteristics of Two Key Teachers in a K-3 Teacher Professional Development Context" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Delta Chelsea Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Online <.PDF>. 2009-05-26 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p117653_index.html

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript Review Method: Peer Reviewed Abstract: Purpose of the paper In a group professional development project, teachers’ participation is an important structure of the professional development process because their participation influences each other’s learning experiences in the group. Wenger (1998) defines learning as follows: “For individuals,…learning is an issue of engaging in and contributing to the practices of their communities” (p. 7). Therefore, the way the teachers participate and interact with others can be considered as an important factor of their own learning as well as the development of their group’s understanding. In fact, some teachers play a significant role in helping the group move forward and make a pivotal contribution to the group. These teachers serve as key members by creating learning opportunities not only for themselves but also for the whole group. This paper describes two key teachers’ cases while they are participating in a one-year professional development project: Kathy, a beginning teacher, and Jenny, an experienced teacher. While the two teachers had different backgrounds in terms of teaching and professional development experiences, they revealed common characteristics in the way they participated in the project. The purpose of the paper is to identify these key teachers’ characteristics and role in the group teacher learning context. Theoretical Framework The current predominant theory of learning comes from a social perspective that posits that learning takes place in a social context and that participation in the social context is an important aspect of learning. Participation, however, is not only a social process but also a personal experience. Therefore, when looking at social context and social relationships among group members, we also come to look at how individuals work together and react to other individuals or the whole group. Therefore, the process of teacher professional development should be inferred by looking at both social and individual aspects (Simon, 2000). Even though this study accounts for two individual cases, the cases are situated in the group professional development context. As such, I need to look at how the group of the teachers developed their expertise of teaching mathematics while inferring the two particular teachers’ characteristics and role in the group. By doing this, I will be able to see how the way the teachers participated in the project activities influenced the development and refinement of the whole group’s understanding of the mathematics the teachers taught and the pedagogical issues and strategies that they explored. Data Collection and Analysis This study is part of a large ethnographic study that investigated the shared culture of forty-two K-3 teachers as they worked together to resolve their teaching concerns and develop their expertise in teaching mathematics through a one-year professional development project. Therefore, during the study, a variety of data were collected. For the inquiry of this paper (identifying the characteristics of the two key teachers), I used the following data sources: Course transcripts and observation notes, teacher reflections and working group papers, Pedagogical Content Knowledge Tests (PCT) and Mathematical Understanding Tests (MUT), post-questionnaires, interview transcripts, and e-mail conversations. During the project, two courses were provided: Course 1 from September to April and Course 2 in June. In Course 1, both pedagogical issues and mathematical problems were explored; in Course 2 the main focus was on the teachers’ mathematical exploration. These two courses were videotaped and transcribed in order to infer how the two teachers participated in the project activities. During the courses, I also collected the teachers’ written work such as working group papers and reflections. Through Course 1, teachers in groups explored a particular pedagogical issue and reported the results of their investigation. The working group papers were submitted to the project directors at the end of Course 1. The teachers also turned in their reflections after each session. The reflections dealt with the teachers’ concerns, questions, and experiences in the classroom, but the topics were not limited to these. Written tests were administered in order to identify teacher knowledge in pedagogy and mathematics. Pre-PCT and MUT were administered at the beginning of Course 1; post-PCT and MUT were on the last day of Course 1 and on the last day of Course 2, respectively. I also collected post-questionnaires at the end of Course 1. One of the questionnaires was to get the teachers’ feedback on the project and the other was to have them reflect on their written reflections. The two key teachers and nine other teachers were also interviewed with the project evaluator after the project. The purposes of the interview were to clarify the teachers post-questionnaire responses and to ask additional questions. The interviews were audio-taped and transcribed. Furthermore, I collected e-mail conversations between me and the teachers that made after the project. When I analyzed the data, I first summarized each activity or response and then identified key aspects of each data source. I also made connections between the key aspects within each data source and then looked for relationships of the key aspects among the data sources. In particular, I identified each of the two key teachers’ characteristics and then compared them and looked for common themes. Results There were similarities as well as differences between the two key teachers. By actively participating in the project, both teachers utilized the project opportunities to develop their expertise of teaching mathematics even though they had different backgrounds, experiences, interests, and goals for participating in the project. Both of them, whether or not experienced, were aware of their struggles, set a solid goal to improve their teaching, and wanted to resolve their teaching problems through the project. -Individual Characteristics As a beginning teacher, Kathy shared her concerns and teaching problems. Yet, she did not know how to make changes at the outset of the project. While discussing her interests and concerns with other teachers, she noticed useful strategies that she could implement in her classroom. In fact, she applied what she learned from other teachers and what she gleaned from readings in her classroom. She found what did and did not work for her. Finally, she developed her own ways to teach mathematics effectively, such as facilitating classroom discussions. Kathy, although not an expert teacher, had the skills and understandings that might eventually make it possible for her to become a lead teacher. In a sense, Kathy’s case provided a glimpse of a lead teacher in the making. Jenny was an experienced teacher. She provided ideas and strategies that other teachers could use in their classrooms. She also continued to explore issues and concerns through the project activities. She further refined her notions of teaching using a reformed curriculum. Especially, through participating in the project, she had opportunities to develop her confidence in doing mathematics. In fact, her participation in mathematical activities was implicit at the beginning of the project. Once she became confident in sharing her ideas, she actively participated in mathematical activities and contributed to the group’s mathematical learning. -Common Characteristics Both teachers demonstrated some similarities as they participated in project activities. They were key in contributing to the shared meanings with respect to mathematics and mathematics pedagogy in the community of learners. They were active math problem solvers and flexible mathematics thinkers. In addition, they were reflective teachers who thought about ways of teaching mathematics in order to continue to improve their teaching practices. With these characteristics, the two teachers actively participated in the project and influenced other teachers to do so as well. With regard to mathematical activities, Kathy provided important ideas for other teachers to consider as they solved problems. She was not satisfied with just getting an answer. She questioned the reasons why certain ideas “worked” per se. She always wanted to generalize the patterns that she found. She also provided different perspectives to look at problems. This way of exploration about mathematical ideas encouraged other teachers to further investigate the ideas and created more opportunities for them to learn mathematics. Kathy also created possible learning opportunities for herself as well as other teachers to explore pedagogical issues. With her clear goals for the project, she made comments about her teaching problems and shared her struggles. While discussing with her, her fellow teachers began to “see” and possibly make her problems of practice their own. Kathy made it possible for her colleagues to address issues, such as how to facilitate students’ participation in discussions. She actively led her group while working on her group project. Not only did she suggest pedagogical issues that they needed to explore, but she also made suggestions about how they could investigate the issues. Once Jenny became confident in sharing her mathematical ideas, she actively contributed to other teachers’ mathematical learning. She thought flexibly and provided ideas about numbers and their relations. She wanted to clarify mathematical statements that other teachers made. This effort, in turn, may have encouraged other teachers to refine their claims. By providing her interpretations about formal expressions of mathematical ideas, such as the p/q definition of rational numbers, she also helped other teachers see the connection between more formal and informal ways of viewing and thinking about mathematical ideas. As an experienced teacher, Jenny provided many ideas and strategies that other teachers could use in their classrooms. She suggested possible questions to ask to facilitate students’ verbalization during discussion. By providing possible ways of using certain materials and the purposes of certain activities, she also helped beginning teachers realize how to use certain materials and activities. While sharing her experiences from her classroom, she facilitated discussions among the teachers and encouraged other teachers to think about certain pedagogical issues, such as using representations. To summarize, the main characteristics of the two key teachers were: active participants with specific goals, active math problem solvers, flexible mathematics thinkers, and reflective practitioners. On the one hand, by being participants such characteristics Kathy and Jenny not only made their own learning opportunities maximize, but also provided opportunities for the group of the teachers to establish shared meanings about mathematics and mathematics pedagogy. On the other hand, the project activities provided opportunities for the key teachers to draw these characteristics to develop their expertise of teaching mathematics.

Focusing On Teacher Learning: Revisiting the Issue of Having Students Consider Multiple Solutions for Mathematics Problems

Developing "Mathematics and Social Justice." A course which incorporates social justice issues and service-learning projects

Mathematics Virtual Learning Village: Occassioning Student Teachers' Learning to Teach Mathematics

Teachers Considering Implications for Mathematics Learning and Teaching in the Context of Their Own Learning During Professional Development