Developing Skills for Exploring Children’s Thinking From Extensive One-on-One Work With Students

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.

From Dissertation to Publication in Mathematics Teacher Educator

In this editorial, we provide suggestions for authors who are preparing a manuscript for the Mathematics Teacher Educator journal that is based on a dissertation. We recommend that authors begin by examining their findings and identifying a focus that addresses a shared problem of practice for mathematics teacher educators. Authors should become familiar with the journal by reading editorials and related articles published in the journal. Finally, the Writing Tool can serve as a guide for preparing an outline for the manuscript, which can be shared with the editors and colleagues for feedback.

Support and Enrichment Experiences in Mathematics (SEE Math): Using Case Studies to Improve Mathematics Teacher Education

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.

If the World Were a Village: Learning Mathematics While Learning About the World

[The If the World Were a Village book (Smith, 2011) and activity (described in this article)] was a really good way to open one’s perspective. As an American, I tend to be a bit focused on the United States, so to see how much [or how little] of the world is actually represented in my perspective was enlightening. Living in the United States . . . I was surprised that only 5% [of the world population] were from North America. Long-standing and ongoing calls exist for making mathematics meaningful, relevant, and applicable outside the classroom. Major mathematics education organizations (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM], National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics [NCSM], Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators [AMTE], TODOS: Mathematics for ALL) have called for mathematics to be seen as a tool for understanding and critiquing the world. To prepare students and teachers to do this, we must go beyond “everyday" contexts and include analysis of social justice issues into our courses. We share an activity designed to address these calls while also addressing the mathematics goals of the course. We share data showing that prospective teachers learned mathematics while also learning about their world and reframing their view of mathematics as a tool to make sense of the world.

Developing an Asset-Based View of Students’ Mathematical Competencies Through Learning Trajectory-Based Lesson Study

This article details the design and implementation of a professional development model called Learning Trajectory-Based Lesson Study focused on issues of equity, identity, and agency. We developed the Vertical Articulation to Unpack the Learning Trajectory (VAULT) tool to orient teachers’ instructional planning toward an asset-based view of students’ mathematics competencies. We examined teachers’ use of the VAULT to plan, implement, and debrief on student strategies for one spatial reasoning task in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. The VAULT facilitated intentional planning for a progression of anticipated strategies and equitable access to instruction. Teachers demonstrated an asset-based view of all student thinking independent of grade-level expectations.

Exploring Power and Oppression: An Examination of Mathematics Teacher Educators’ Professional Growth

The preparation of mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) varies widely, with little guidance regarding the essential skills and knowledge necessary to tackle the field’s looming challenges. Equitable access to, and engagement with, mathematics has surfaced as an elusive goal of mathematics education organizations. MTEs, therefore, ought to identify and engage with resources that help them comprehend and confront systemic oppression and inequities. We present the process and reflections from an examination of MTEs’ professional growth through engagement in a collaborative interrogation of critical texts outside of mathematics education. Participation in this series of structured readings and dialogue led MTEs to develop a deeper understanding of the historical movements and events that created today’s local and global status quos. Furthermore, MTEs could more readily make connections between macrocontexts of colonialism, violence, and oppression, and the micromanifestations of power and marginalization within mathematics education. Implications for future development of MTEs are discussed.

Mathematics Teachers’ Understanding of Privilege and Oppression

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?