Illustration 8: Creating a study group to
support a new curriculum
This second illustration occurred during
the third and final year of the MMRR project. It involved a
group of teachers who had been participating in teacher
enhancement experiences for 2 to 5 years. At the end of the
previous school year, the mathematics department in their
school had decided to adopt the Connected Mathematics Project (CMP) series. All the teachers of the seventh-grade
mathematics courses had agreed to implement several CMP units
in their classes the following year. Since several of these
units were new to the teachers, they decided to create a study
group to become familiar with the units and prepare to
implement them.
The study group met weekly after school.
The teachers worked independently, but they followed a format
that had been modeled the previous year by a mathematics
teacher educator assigned to support instructional innovation
at that school site.
To prepare for teaching each new CMP unit,
the teachers first read the introductory information at the
beginning of the teacher’s guide and then worked through
the mathematical investigations comprising the unit on their
own, doing the same tasks they would ask their students to do.
Then they met a few times to share their results and discuss
the mathematics covered in the unit. They devoted the remaining
sessions to planning how to introduce and pace each
investigation. They read the relevant “Teaching the
Investigation” sections of the materials to glean
valuable tips for orchestrating classroom activities. During
the group planning sessions, teachers divided up the tasks of
preparing the necessary materials, such as handouts,
manipulatives, assignment sheets, tests and so on, in order to
accomplish them in the most efficient way.
As they implemented lessons, the teachers
also sought opportunities in and even outside their regular
weekly meetings to share what was happening in their classes.
This sharing focused primarily on how specific activities
developed. Occasionally, however, the teachers also discussed
students’ responses that had puzzled them.
Overall, the teachers found this
experience extremely beneficial and decided to continue it the
following year. They continued to add new CMP units
to their repertoires and to refine the implementation of units
they had already done.
Main elements and variations
Variations in scaffolded field
experiences are many and substantial, but most successful
implementations of this type of professional development
experience have the following elements in common:
• Some scaffolding occurs at BOTH the planning and
implementation stages of the innovative teaching experience. Both stages present unique challenges for
teachers engaging in instructional innovation and call for
different kinds of support.
• Teachers are provided opportunities to reflect
on their field experience and share these reflections with
others. Not only do teachers learn
from reflecting on their experiences, but sharing is one way to
address the emotional challenges of taking on instructional
innovation.
Within these parameters, scaffolded field
experiences can vary a great deal, depending on the nature of the innovative teaching
experiences and the kind of support that is provided.
With respect to the first point, the
nature of the innovative teaching experience is affected both
by the duration/extent of the field experience requirement and by the
teacher’s role in
its design. For example, teachers
may be expected to do the following:
• Design
and implement one or more isolated lessons consistent with a proposed
innovation.
• Design
an innovative unit independently and implement it.
• Implement
a replacement unit (i.e., a unit that experts have designed and
field-tested and for which supporting instructional materials
are available) adapted appropriately to the setting.
• Gradually
implement an entire “reform curriculum,” that is, a
comprehensive curriculum informed by the NCTM Standards, which
experts have designed and field-tested to ensure appropriate
student learning outcomes.
While it is certainly a valuable learning
experience for any teacher to design his or her own lesson or
unit, there are limitations to this practice. First, it is
unlikely that the first efforts of a teacher new to reform will
incorporate fully the desired mathematical content or
pedagogical practices. Second, shortcomings in the design of
the instructional experience are likely to produce negative
outcomes, and the teacher might feel unimpressed or even
discouraged by what the students gain from the experience.
Finally, the time and effort required to design an innovative
instructional experience may take precious resources away from
other aspects of implementing that experience, such as
attending to the introduction of new teaching strategies or
analyzing students’ responses. On the other hand, when
teachers experience the complexity and challenges of designing
quality instructional units, they may appreciate more fully the
value of pre-made exemplary instructional materials and may
develop more effective ways to use such materials.
Professional development projects that
incorporate scaffolded field experiences may also differ widely
according to the kind of support provided to teachers. As
projects struggle to meet their participants’ needs in
cost-effective ways, many kinds of support strategies have been
developed. We report the most commonly used ones here,
organizing them according to the four different stages at which
support can be offered.
Support provided prior to planning:
• Facilitators
introduce teachers to the exemplary instructional materials
they are going to use. The goal is to empower teachers to use
these materials effectively as they start planning their
experience, by becoming familiar with their overall scope,
philosophy, contents and structure.
• Teachers
engage as learners, independently or with a group of
colleagues, in the same mathematical tasks their students are
going to experience. In this way, they become familiar with the
mathematics covered in the unit and personally engage with the
“big ideas” they are expected to incorporate.
• Teachers
participate in facilitated experiences-as-learners that mirror
the kinds of learning experiences they will be offering their
students. In this way, they can personally experience the
impact of some new pedagogical practices, as well as gain an
understanding of the goals, rationale and design of the
experiences they are getting ready to teach.
• Teachers
read stories or watch videos that provide a detailed account of
the kinds of experiences they are going to implement in their
classes. These activities give them a sense of how the
experience might play out in a classroom and help them
anticipate possible student responses.
• Teachers
look at samples of student work for the tasks they are going to
use in their classes. Looking at these artifacts can help them
anticipate their own students’ responses and outcomes.
• Teachers
attend presentations by, and/or have conversations with,
teachers who have already implemented similar experiences in
their classrooms. They thus benefit from others’
experiences and insights. Hearing from other teachers can also
allay some of their fears before they try their first
innovative experience.
• Teachers
observe a colleague’s implementation of the same unit on
a regular basis. This can provide a concrete image of one
implementation, which can serve as a model. Teachers also get a
sense of the pacing, begin to anticipate students’
possible responses and learn some useful tips.
Support provided during planning:
• Teachers
brainstorm ideas for their unit with a small group of
colleagues interested in developing a similar unit. They get
feedback on their own ideas and learn from listening to the
ideas of others.
• Teachers
work in teams with one or two other colleagues to develop daily
plans for the unit and prepare all the necessary materials to
implement it. Here teachers benefit from the feedback received
and from dividing up the time-consuming task of preparing
instructional materials.
• Teachers
(or teams) capitalize on exemplary instructional materials to
create their daily plans for the unit and prepare materials for
the implementation. They thereby benefit from the thinking and
field-testing that went into the design of these materials.
They also save time in preparing the necessary handouts,
assessments and so on.
• Individual
teachers (or teams) meet with a mathematics teacher educator to
review and refine their plans. This enables them to benefit
from an expert’s feedback and provides the opportunity to
brainstorm more ideas.
Support provided during classroom
implementation:
• A
mathematics teacher educator or more experienced colleague
teaches (or co-teaches) a few demonstration lessons in the
teacher’s classroom at the beginning of the unit. The
demonstration provides a model and helps establish a supportive
classroom climate.
• A
mathematics teacher educator or more experienced colleague
observes a few classes and then meets with the teacher. These
debriefing meetings provide the teacher with the opportunity to
gather feedback, reflect on students’ thinking and
learning and revise their lesson plans.
• A
mathematics teacher educator or more experienced colleague
provides some in-class support, so that the classroom teacher
can focus on selected aspects of an innovative instructional
approach.
•
Members of the team that planned the unit together observe each
other and debrief these observations on a regular basis. All
members benefit from each other’s feedback and can use
the discussions as a starting point to plan future
implementations.
Support provided after the classroom
implementation:
• The
teacher records key concerns, observations and insights in a journal
that is shared and discussed with a mentor or a colleague.
• The
teacher collects and examines artifacts from the field
experience (e.g., handouts, assignments, assessment
instruments, lesson plans, student work, etc.) to create a
record of the implementation that can be used in the future.
The record can also be used to evaluate the outcomes of the
experience.
• The
teacher participates in facilitated meetings with other peers
in which they all share and discuss their field experiences. In
these meetings, teachers can benefit from articulating their
experiences and hearing other people’s experiences and
insights without having to engage in any writing.
• The
teacher participates in an ongoing peer support group in which
field experiences are shared and discussed informally. Again,
these opportunities for reflection do not involve writing, yet
teachers benefit from sharing and reflecting on their
experience and from hearing other people’s experiences
and insights. The peer support group can also provide immediate
feedback and help when facing a problem, as well as on-going
emotional support.
Continued
