Abstract:

As mathematics teacher educators, we strive to motivate and inspire our students to engage in ambitious teaching as described in Principles to Action (NCTM, 2014) and the Taking Action (NCTM, 2027) series published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. We also address and stress the need for strong “foundations of pedagogical knowledge, effective and equitable mathematics teaching practices, and positive and productive dispositions toward teaching mathematics to support students sense-making understanding, and reasoning.” (AMTE, 2017, C 2, P 3).

Ambitious teaching contrasts sharply with the instruction models that most students have found in their mathematics classrooms. As middle and high school learners, they encountered, for the most part, a routine that included homework review, teacher lecture and demonstration followed by individual practice. This routine was further articulated in the I do, we do, you do, model of instruction. This disconnect continues in their college courses. (Nguyen & Munter, 2023).

It then becomes our challenge as teacher educators to overcome that model and help our students see themselves as facilitators of learning rather than engaging solely in the practice of direct instruction that they have been exposed to as students throughout much of their learning of mathematics. In their methods courses and in their practicums, our goal then becomes one to ensure that our pre-service teachers have the opportunity to fully engage with the Effective Teaching Practices in all ways. This has become our most important goal, and our students demonstrate their progress in comprehensive unit plan design and implementation of these practices in field experiences and student teaching assignments during their final year of their college program.

What then, do they take with them into their own classrooms from their methods courses and internships? What do they remember, and what do they put into practice in their own teaching? What support and mentoring have they experienced in their first years of teaching? What do they need and how can we help? What can we learn about re-designing our programs when we answer these questions?

This poster session will answer some of those questions and will include the design and results of an interview study with 15 early career middle and high school teachers. Each of these teacher-participants had completed a few months to 5 years of teaching experience at the time of their interview. All were former students in a methods class with the author and were supervised by them the following semester in their student teaching. The poster will also highlight important aspects of the participants undergraduate preparation for teaching.

Keywords:

Preservice Teacher Education, Undergraduate Education, Teacher Knowledge, Teacher Educators.