Mathematics Teacher Educator Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 45: From Argumentation to Truth-Telling: Critical Race Theory in Mathematics Teacher Education Oct 19, 2022

Show notes

Critical Race Theory (CRT) has entered into public discourse at an accelerated rate. Instead of using CRT as a basis to produce a more racially conscious populace, the latest hysteria, unfortunately, has centered on ban- ning CRT. Governmental actions have been instituted to establish executive orders to forbid CRT training. Administrators and educators have been written up, sus- pended, and even terminated for teaching about race. The current landscape around CRT is about censoring race-related discussions and obstructing any advance- ments in service to racial equity and justice. In the edu- cational arena, more than 20 states have banned CRT from being taught in our nation’s public school class- rooms. A new report from the Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access found that 35% of all students in U.S. K–12 schools have been affected somehow by local anti-CRT efforts (Pollock & Rogers, 2022). CRT proper is not taught in K–12 schools, so these efforts clearly demonstrate that those who are championing them are ill-informed about where CRT is taught in the first place.

Special Guests: Cathery Yeh, Christopher Charlie Jett , and Maria Zavala.

Episode 43: Developing Preservice Teachers’ Understanding of Area Through a Units Intervention Oct 19, 2022

Show notes

Preservice elementary teachers (PSTs) often enter their teacher preparation programs with procedural and underdeveloped understandings of area measurement and its applications. This is problematic given that area and the area model are used throughout K–Grade 12 to develop flexibility in students’ mathematical understanding and to provide them with a visual interpretation of numerical ideas. This study describes an intervention aimed at bolstering PSTs’ understanding of area and area units with respect to measurement and number and operations. Following the intervention, results indicate that PSTs had both an improved ability to solve area tiling tasks as well as increased flexibility in the strategies they implemented. The results indicate that PSTs, similar to elementary students, develop a conceptual understanding of area from the use of tangible tools and are able to leverage visualizations to make sense of multiplicative structure across different strategies.

Special Guest: Megan Wickstrom.

Episode 42: Language Demands Tool: Attuning Prospective Teachers’ Vision to the Role of Language in Mathematics Education Oct 03, 2022

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Mathematics standards and practices highlight the vital role that language plays in mathematics education. However, there remains a common misconception
that mathematics is somehow language- free or less linguistically demanding than other content areas. This qualitative study describes an intervention implemented in six elementary mathematics methods courses. The intervention was designed to attune prospective teachers’ noticing to the language modalities and supports in mathematics teaching and learning. The intervention began with an observation tool that prospective teachers completed in their field placement classrooms. This article classifies prospective teachers’ noticings and explicates how these noticing became a pedagogical catalyst for further learning and discussion in subsequent mathematics methods classes.

Special Guest: Amanda Sugimotto.

Episode 41: Centering Professional Development Around the Instructional Quality Assessment Rubrics Oct 03, 2022

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In this article we detail a research study using the Instructional Quality Assessment (IQA) Rubrics (Boston, 2012) as the frame for a professional development with mathematics teachers in grades 3-8. We wanted to create a professional development around a tool that was typically used in research as a way to observe teachers,
as a tool to use with teachers on their reflection of instruction. In this study we share both the researchers’ and teachers’ perspectives of affordances and constraints of the professional development and observational rubrics.

Special Guests: Amber Candella and Melissa Boston.

Episode 40: Conversation with MTE editors: Vision, Submission Advice, Etc. Mar 11, 2022

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Special Guests: Kate Johnson and Michael Steele .

Episode 39: Developing Skills for Exploring Children’s Thinking From Extensive One-on-One Work With Students Feb 08, 2022

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In this article, we share results from a field experience model in which junior-year methods classes were held in an elementary school and preservice teachers (PSTs) worked with a single student (a “Math Buddy”) on mathematics for 30 minutes per day. We focus on the development of PSTs’ skills for exploring children’s thinking and the structures and tools that we used to support this development. Data sources include screencast recordings of interactions with Math Buddies and written reflections completed by PSTs. Although the responsiveness of interactions varied across individuals and interactions, in general, PSTs showed improvements in exploring children’s thinking. We share implications of these findings for similar field experience models and for practice-based approaches to teacher education generally.

Special Guests: Corey Webel and Sheunghyun Yeo.

Episode 37: Supporting Preservice Teachers’ Growth in Eliciting and Using Evidence of Student Thinking: Show-Me Narrative Feb 08, 2022

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Special Guests: Barbara Swartz and Esther M. H. Billings.

Episode 36: Supporting Prospective Teachers in Problem Solving: Incorporating Mindset Messaging to Overcome Math Anxiety Feb 08, 2022

Show notes

Prospective and practicing elementary teachers have historically demonstrated anxiety about mathematics, which can affect their mathematics teaching and their students’ math anxiety. Yet, developing productive dispositions prior to teacher preparation programs is rarely addressed in the research. We propose mindset messaging in mathematics courses as an intervention to influence prospective teachers’ (PSTs’) self-reported mathematical mindsets and math anxiety.

Survey results indicated shifts toward growth mindsets and decreases in math anxiety. Further analysis of PSTs’ written responses suggests that mindset messaging may support
PSTs in overcoming math anxiety, and that perseverance during problem solving is critical for PSTs’ mathematical improvement. Additionally, some PSTs connected course experiences to future mathematics teaching practices. Results propose MTEs might consider explicitly offering mindset messaging in mathematics courses.

Special Guests: Erica Slate Young and Sarah Roller Dyess.

Episode 38: Support and Enrichment Experiences in Mathematics (SEE Math): Using Case Studies to Improve Mathematics Teacher Education Feb 08, 2022

Show notes

This article describes an innovation in an elementary mathematics education course called SEE Math (Support and Enrichment Experiences in Mathematics), which aims to support teacher candidates (TCs) as they learn to teach mathematics through problem solving while promoting equity during multiple experiences with a child. During this 8-week program, TCs craft and implement tasks that promote problem solving in the context of a case study of a child’s thinking while collecting and analyzing student data to support future instructional decisions. The program culminates in a mock parent– teacher conference. Data samples show how SEE Math offers TCs an opportunity to focus
on the nuances of children’s strengths rather than traditional measures of achievement
and skill.

Special Guests: Crystal Kalinec-Craig, Emily Bonner, and Traci Kelley.

Episode 34: Mathematics Teachers’ Understanding of Privilege and Oppression Dec 15, 2021

Show notes

The Access, Allies, and Agency in Mathematical Systems project team designed
a professional development for mathematics teachers positioning equity at the systemic level and activities aimed at supporting mathematics teachers in considering the influence of privilege and oppression on mathematics teaching and learning (Scroggins, 2017). Here, we examine the levels of oppression activity, aimed at supporting mathematics teachers in understanding that oppression operates at multiple levels (i.e., as a system) and that these levels exist and operate in/on mathematics education. Such understanding can support mathematics teachers in disrupting inequities, and how mathematics teachers engage in this activity can support mathematics teacher educators in preparing teachers to do such work. Specifically, we explore the question: How does this activity support mathematics teachers’ understanding of levels of oppression?

Special Guests: Courtney Koestler, Mary Q. Foote, and Tonya Bartell.

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