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Transcript of Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group Lorraine Males,...
Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Lorraine Males, Michigan State University
Presentation Agenda
2Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
• Background/Literature• Theoretical Framework• Method• Results• Discussion
BACKGROUND
Why study professional development?
4Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Teacher
PD
improved practice and
student learning
?
Why study professional development?
5Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
decontexualized • contrived • unsatisfying • fragmented • superficial •
disconnected • non-cumulative
(Ball & Cohen, 1999; Lord, 1994; Wilson & Berne, 1999;
Little, 1994)
What do we know about PD?
6Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
learning is a collaborative activity and “educators learn more powerfully in concert with others who are struggling with the same problems” (Elmore, 2002, p. 8).
a common thread in highly regardedprojects was the “privileging of teachers’ interaction with one another” (Wilson & Berne, 1999, p. 195).
What does collegiality look like?
7Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
According to Little (1990) two things that describe schools in which the teachers work collaboratively• Teachers are not working in isolation - they talk
to each other about teaching on practical and theoretical levels
• Teachers learn from each other “abandoning a perspective that teaching is ‘just a matter of styles’ in favor of a perspective that favors scrutiny of practices and their consequences” (p. 451).
Collegiality in Professional Development
8Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
This work includes the growing body of research on:
mathematics teacher study groups (e.g., Arbaugh, 2003; Crespo, 2006; Herbel-
Eisenmann, Drake & Cirillo, 2009; Slavit & Nelson, 2009)
action research (e.g., Jaworski, 1998, 2006; Atweh, 2004; Zack &
Graves, 2001).
Unanswered Questions about Professional Development
9Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
We still do not know how teachers learn from professional
development or how collegiality may help
or hinder learning
One possible hypothesis
10Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
According to Wilson and Berne(1999), the most successful professional development projects were “aiming for the development of something akin to
Lord’s (1994) ‘critical colleagueship’” (p. 195)
They hypothesize that this type of critical collegiality may help to explain how teachers learn in professional development contexts.
Theoretical Framework
11Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
“For a broader transformation, collegiality will need to support a critical stance toward teaching. This means more than simply sharing ideas or supporting one’s colleagues in the change process. It means confronting traditional practice – the teacher’s own and that of his or her colleagues – with an eye toward wholesale revision” (Lord, 1994, p. 192).
Critical Colleagueship
12Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Creating and sustaining productive disequilibrium through self reflection, collegial dialogue, and on-going critique.
Critical Colleagueship
13Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Creating and sustaining productive disequilibrium through self reflection, collegial dialogue, and on-going critique.
Critical Colleagueship
14Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Embracing fundamental intellectual virtues. Among these are openness to new ideas, willingness to reject weak practices or flimsy reasoning when faced with countervailing evidence and sound arguments, accepting responsibility for acquiring and using relevant information in the construction of technical arguments, willingness to seek out the best ideas or the best knowledge from within the subject-matter communities, greater reliance on organized and deliberate investigations rather than learning by accident, and assuming collective responsibility for creating a professional record of teachers' research and experimentation.
Critical Colleagueship
15Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Embracing fundamental intellectual virtues. Among these are openness to new ideas, willingness to reject weak practices or flimsy reasoning when faced with countervailing evidence and sound arguments, accepting responsibility for acquiring and using relevant information in the construction of technical arguments, willingness to seek out the best ideas or the best knowledge from within the subject-matter communities, greater reliance on organized and deliberate investigations rather than learning by accident, and assuming collective responsibility for creating a professional record of teachers' research and experimentation.
Critical Colleagueship
16Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Increasing the capacity for empathetic understanding (placing oneself in a colleague's shoes). That is, understanding a colleague's dilemma in the terms he or she understands it.
Critical Colleagueship
17Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Increasing the capacity for empathetic understanding (placing oneself in a colleague's shoes). That is, understanding a colleague's dilemma in the terms he or she understands it.
Research Questions
18Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
How can the aspects of critical colleagueship exhibited by mathematics teachers participating in a teacher study group be identified?
How are the first three aspects of critical colleagueship exhibited by mathematics teachers participating in a teacher study group?
METHOD
Context
20Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Baseline Data Collection
Aug. 2005 – May 2006 Aug. 2006 – May 2007
Reading Group
Aug. 2007 – May 2008 Aug. 2008
Mapping & Reflecting on Personal Beliefs
Identifying & Reflecting on Performance Gaps
Pilot Study Cycles of Action Research A.R. cont…
Report onActivity Structures
& Turn Length AnalyticMemos
Phase II Phase III Phase IV Phase V
Participants
21Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
TR Gr School Setting Certification Yrs Teach Curriculum
Cara 6 Rural, MS Elem 21 NSF reform
Robert 6 Urban, MS Elem 7 Trad
Stacey 7 Rural, MS Elem/MAT 17 NSF reform
Gwen 8 Urban, Title I, MS Sec 18 Trad
Kate 8 Suburban, MS Sec/MS 14 NSF reform
Holly 8 Urban, Gifted, HS Sec 9 Trad
Mike 8 Urban, MS Sec/MSM 14 Trad
Owen 10 Suburban, HS Sec/MAT 2 Trad
Data Collection & Analysis
22Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Pre-existing data includedtranscripts and videos from project meetings (41 meetings approximately 1.5 - 3 hours each)
Data Collection & Analysis
Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Reading GroupBeginning EndMiddle
Action ResearchBeginning EndMiddle
Data Collection & Analysis
24Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
All transcripts were coded in Transana for interaction patterns – praising, advising, challenging and relating (Males, 2009).
Challenging and Relating interactions within each phase were further coded for the following:
a) Initiator/receiver of the interactionb) the primary content of the interactionc) the linguistic nature of the interaction (using
Wordsmith Tools) d) the aspects of critical colleagueship exhibited
Data Collection & Analysis
25Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
All transcripts were coded in Transana for interaction patterns – praising, advising, challenging and relating (Males, 2009).
Challenging and Relating interactions within each phase were further coded for the following:
a) Initiator/receiver of the interactionb) the primary content of the interactionc) the linguistic nature of the interaction (using
Wordsmith Tools) d) the aspects of critical colleagueship exhibited
Data Collection & Analysis
26Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
I created the following types of representations for my data:a) a pictorial representationb) a matrix representation
RESULTS
Challenging Colleague Excerpt
28Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Gwen: In class, did you show them using Pythagorean theorem to solve the problem?
Owen: Yes. That's the way we did them.
Gwen: So you couldn't say, that a kid said, oh this is how you did it, so that's how I'm supposed to do it. So how is that different than, I know the distance formula, so that's how I’m going to do it?
Owen: Because the distance formula is an exterior entity which they have no actual understanding of. All they have is their memorization of what
the distance formula is as opposed to having them draw a triangle, which connects a problem they are presented with back to something else they are already familiar with.
Gwen: I understand that, but you taught it that way.
Challenging Colleague Excerpt
29Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Gwen: In class, did you show them using Pythagorean theorem to solve the problem?
Owen: Yes. That's the way we did them.
Gwen: So you couldn't say, that a kid said, oh this is how you did it, so that's how I'm supposed to do it. So how is that different than, I know the distance formula, so that's how I’m going to do it?
Owen: Because the distance formula is an exterior entity which they have no actual understanding of. All they have is their memorization of what
the distance formula is as opposed to having them draw a triangle, which connects a problem they are presented with back to something else they are already familiar with.
Gwen: I understand that, but you taught it that way.
Challenging Colleague Excerpt
30Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Gwen: In class, did you show them using Pythagorean theorem to solve the problem?
Owen: Yes. That's the way we did them.
Gwen: So you couldn't say, that a kid said, oh this is how you did it, so that's how I'm supposed to do it. So how is that different than, I know the distance formula, so that's how I’m going to do it?
Owen: Because the distance formula is an exterior entity which they have no actual understanding of. All they have is their memorization of what
the distance formula is as opposed to having them draw a triangle, which connects a problem they are presented with back to something else they are already familiar with.
Gwen: I understand that, but you taught it that way.
Challenging Colleague Excerpt
31Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Gwen: In class, did you show them using Pythagorean theorem to solve the problem?
Owen: Yes. That's the way we did them.
Gwen: So you couldn't say, that a kid said, oh this is how you did it, so that's how I'm supposed to do it. So how is that different than, I know the distance formula, so that's how I’m going to do it?
Owen: Because the distance formula is an exterior entity which they have no actual understanding of. All they have is their memorization of what
the distance formula is as opposed to having them draw a triangle, which connects a problem they are presented with back to something else they are already familiar with.
Gwen: I understand that, but you taught it that way.
Challenging Colleague Excerpt
32Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Gwen: In class, did you show them using Pythagorean theorem to solve the problem?
Owen: Yes. That's the way we did them.
Gwen: So you couldn't say, that a kid said, oh this is how you did it, so that's how I'm supposed to do it. So how is that different than, I know the distance formula, so that's how I’m going to do it?
Owen: Because the distance formula is an exterior entity which they have no actual understanding of. All they have is their memorization of what
the distance formula is as opposed to having them draw a triangle, which connects a problem they are presented with back to something else they are already familiar with.
Gwen: I understand that, but you taught it that way.
Challenging Colleague Excerpt
33Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Gwen: In class, did you show them using Pythagorean theorem to solve the problem?
Owen: Yes. That's the way we did them.
Gwen: So you couldn't say, that a kid said, oh this is how you did it, so that's how I'm supposed to do it. So how is that different than, I know the distance formula, so that's how I’m going to do it?
Owen: Because the distance formula is an exterior entity which they have no actual understanding of. All they have is their memorization of what
the distance formula is as opposed to having them draw a triangle, which connects a problem they are presented with back to something else they are already familiar with.
Gwen: I understand that, but you taught it that way.
Challenging Interaction – The nature
34Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
stretched over multiple turns
questions were mostly “what” or “how” questions
push receivers to think more deeply or think about things in different ways
use of classroom experience for reasoning
ifcould
but
or
wonder
would
Challenging Interaction within the Different Phases
35Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
More challenges in the reading group phase than the action research phase
Phase # of Challenges (per hour)
Most Frequent Initiators
(per hour)
Most Frequent Receivers(per hour)
Reading Group
24 Kate (6.2) Owen(4.8)Helen (3.5)
art/idea (9.5)Owen (3.1)Kate (2.9)
Action Research
19 Helen (5.6) Owen(3.1)Claire (2.9)
Owen (3.1)
Challenging Interaction within the Different Phases
36Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Reading Group• authors ’ writing styles• general instructional strategies (e.g., problems to pose,
proof-styles to incorporate)• abstract notions rather than particular practices of
individuals
Action Research• mostly directed towards teacher-researchers presenting• approach to the action research project (e.g., research
questions, ways of collecting data)
Challenging Interaction – Critical Colleagueship
37Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Rejecting weak practices• recognizing alternative explanations for
phenomena• often initiated because of the receivers making
claims based on lack of evidence
Openness to new ideas• as a result of challenges often teachers would
express their openness to an alternative suggested by others
Relating Colleague Excerpt #1
38Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
UR: I'm wondering on page seventy-four, where they talk about functions or purposes for revoicing…. And I'm wondering, like if you think aboutwhat you do in your classroom do you feel like you do those about the same or do you feel like you do one more than the other? Or do you feel like you do one and not the other?
Kate: I don't think I create the alignments. I think probably what would happen is someone would make a conjecture and other people would react to it rather than having several at the same time. I don't see that happen very much. I see pursuing one of them or I ask for multiple explanations, but I'm not sure we investigate why one might be better than another assuming they are all correct, very often. I wonder how much I do that's truly revoicing as opposed to repeating.
Gwen: I would agree with that. I would say I probably do more just repeating.
Relating Colleague Excerpt #1
39Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
UR: I'm wondering on page seventy-four, where they talk about functions or purposes for revoicing…. And I'm wondering, like if you think aboutwhat you do in your classroom do you feel like you do those about the same or do you feel like you do one more than the other? Or do you feel like you do one and not the other?
Kate: I don't think I create the alignments. I think probably what would happen is someone would make a conjecture and other people would react to it rather than having several at the same time. I don't see that happen very much. I see pursuing one of them or I ask for multiple explanations, but I'm not sure we investigate why one might be better than another assuming they are all correct, very often. I wonder how much I do that's truly revoicing as opposed to repeating.
Gwen: I would agree with that. I would say I probably do more just repeating.
Relating Colleague Excerpt #1
40Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
UR: I'm wondering on page seventy-four, where they talk about functions or purposes for revoicing…. And I'm wondering, like if you think aboutwhat you do in your classroom do you feel like you do those about the same or do you feel like you do one more than the other? Or do you feel like you do one and not the other?
Kate: I don't think I create the alignments. I think probably what would happen is someone would make a conjecture and other people would react to it rather than having several at the same time. I don't see that happen very much. I see pursuing one of them or I ask for multiple explanations, but I'm not sure we investigate why one might be better than another assuming they are all correct, very often. I wonder how much I do that's truly revoicing as opposed to repeating.
Gwen: I would agree with that. I would say I probably do more just repeating.
Relating Colleague Excerpt #1
41Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
UR: I'm wondering on page seventy-four, where they talk about functions or purposes for revoicing…. And I'm wondering, like if you think aboutwhat you do in your classroom do you feel like you do those about the same or do you feel like you do one more than the other? Or do you feel like you do one and not the other?
Kate: I don't think I create the alignments. I think probably what would happen is someone would make a conjecture and other people would react to it rather than having several at the same time. I don't see that happen very much. I see pursuing one of them or I ask for multiple explanations, but I'm not sure we investigate why one might be better than another assuming they are all correct, very often. I wonder how much I do that's truly revoicing as opposed to repeating.
Gwen: I would agree with that. I would say I probably do more just repeating.
Relating Colleague Excerpt #2
42Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
The following takes place way after Mike shares the difficulty he is having with the heightened awareness of his discourse practices
Kate: It's a lot of responsibility just being aware. Heaven only knows we don't want any of that [responsibility]. And what I think Mike, not only is it harder that it's also that I'm less satisfied with what I've done.
Stacey: Cause you just think that after teaching for so long there's some day you're going to get to a point where you really feel like you're doing it the way you want to be doing it. And I've come a long, long way but it's exciting that there's still so much more to know and to try to do. But it's just never feeling like it's good enough.
Cara: And it's exhausting.
Relating Colleague Example #2
43Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
The following takes place way after Mike shares the difficulty he is having with the heightened awareness of his discourse practices
Kate: It's a lot of responsibility just being aware. Heaven only knows we don't want any of that [responsibility]. And what I think Mike, not only is it harder that it's also that I'm less satisfied with what I've done.
Stacey: Cause you just think that after teaching for so long there's some day you're going to get to a point where you really feel like you're doing it the way you want to be doing it. And I've come a long, long way but it's exciting that there's still so much
more to know and to try to do. But it's just never feeling like it's good enough.
Cara: And it's exhausting.
Relating Colleague Excerpt #2
44Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
The following takes place way after Mike shares the difficulty he is having with the heightened awareness of his discourse practices
Kate: It's a lot of responsibility just being aware. Heaven only knows we don't want any of that [responsibility]. And what I think Mike, not only is it harder that it's also that I'm less satisfied with what I've done.
Stacey: Cause you just think that after teaching for so long there's some day you're going to get to a point where you really feel like you're doing it the way you want to be doing it. And I've come a long, long way but it's exciting that there's still so much more to know and to try to do. But it's just never feeling like it's good enough.
Cara: And it's exhausting.
Relating Colleague Excerpt #2
45Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
The following takes place way after Mike shares the difficulty he is having with the heightened awareness of his discourse practices
Kate: It's a lot of responsibility just being aware. Heaven only knows we don't want any of that [responsibility]. And what I think Mike, not only is it harder that it's also that I'm less satisfied with what I've done.
Stacey: Cause you just think that after teaching for so long there's some day you're going to get to a point where you really feel like you're doing it the way you want to be doing it. And I've come a long, long way but it's exciting that there's still so much more to know and to try to do. But it's just never feeling like it's good enough.
Cara: And it's exhausting.
Relating Interaction – The nature
46Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Two types of relating:• to acknowledge agreement• As part of an emotional response
triggered by the receiver
varied from quick responses to more elaborate stories
use of classroom experiences
identify with
resonate with
relate to
As Kate mentioned
…
Relating Interaction within the Different Phases
47Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
More relating in the action research phase than in the reading group phase
Phase # of Relating
(per hour)
Most Frequent Initiators
(per hour)
Most Frequent Receivers(per hour)
Reading Group
6 Stacey (1.8)Cara (1.7)Kate (1.4)
art/idea 1.6Mike (1.6)
Action Research
8 Mike (2)Stacey (1.3)Kate (1.3)
Kate (2.9)Mike (1.6)Cara (1.1)
Relating Interaction – Content
48Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Reading Group• often prompted by the university-researcher• general feelings about carrying out daily practices with new
awareness of their classroom discourse • student behaviors and attitudes• contained some direct connections to particular classroom
practices
Action Research• often facilitated by the university-researcher (e.g., “Well, you use
did something like this in your class, Holly or Gwen, right…”)• General feelings about the overwhelming nature of collecting
the “perfect” data
Relating Interaction – Critical Colleagueship
49Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Empathetic understanding• particularly when the relating was prompted by
an emotional response
Self-reflection• To express agreement or understanding teacher-
researchers often referred back to their own experience and reflected on these experiences
DISCUSSION
Identifying the Aspects of Critical Colleagueship
51Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
It was possible to identify some of the aspects of critical colleagueship in the discourse – particularly it was useful to identify these aspects within particular interaction patterns and by focusing on the linguistic nature of the talk (i.e., use of particular words)
Challenging and Relating – How might the different phases promote these interactions?
52Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Teachers challenged more than they related (in 5 out of 6 mtgs)
Challenging,
RG - July
Relating, RG - July
To challenge or to relate to who and why?
53Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Frequently Challenged
Frequently Related to
Owen Kate
MikeKate
This study leaves me with questions related to why particular teachers where challenged or related to and how this may affect their taking up of the aspects of critical colleagueship
least experienced, confident, unhedged language, more “challengeable”
very experienced, confident, well-respected seemed to be further along in
her development – TRs wanted to align with her
Limitations
54Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Studying critical colleagueship by identifying interaction patterns may limit the aspects I could identify
I was the sole-coder of the data for the relating interaction
Limited generalizability of critical colleagueship to PD since I studied an atypical group and only a limited number of the aspects
Acknowledgements
55Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
all the participants in this project
Everyone here today!
Faculty at Michigan State University: Beth Herbel-Eisenmann, Jack Smith, & Sandra Crespo
Students at Michigan State University: Kozse Lee, Aaron Brackionecki, Aaron Mosier, & Sam Otten
National Science Foundation
Thank You
56Confronting Practice: Critical Colleagueship in a Mathematics Teacher Study Group
Questions?
Lorraine MalesMichigan State University