Capitalizing on the Visibility of Practice within Math Studio to Understand Teachers and Coaches as Learners Ruth Heaton, Molly Williams, & Michelle Metzger University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Who are we & how did we get here? A professor, a post doc, and a graduate student walk into a bar…

Who are you? Who is a teacher leader(including classroom teachers)? Who is a math coach/math specialist? Who is in a position that works with teacher leaders & math coaches/math specialists? Who is familiar with or been involved in a ”Math Studio?”

Outline Overview of our Studio work Our problem of practice Inquiry into data focused on “Teacher Irene and Coach Maxine” Discussion and questions

Math Studio in Nebraska 2011-2017

Math Studio in Nebraska Translate PD for teachers into practice Continue focus on intentional, planful, observant and reflective Make practice visible through live work with real teachers and students Generate rich research data

Studio Teacher Studio Facilitator SCHEDULE FOR STUDIO Half Day 1: Studio Teacher and Facilitator publically plan a lesson. Half Day 2: Studio Teacher and Facilitator publically enact the planned lesson then reflect on the lesson afterwards. How do you create long term learning about practice through work on a single math lesson? Participants: Administrators, Coaches, Other teachers

Studio Teachers We have worked with studio teachers who have had various levels of experience. Studio teachers have come from different grade levels. Most, but not all, have participated in UNL’s Professional Development programs.

Participants Year Participants 2011-2012 Teachers, Math Coaches, & District Administrators 2012-2013 Teachers, Math Coaches, Principals, & District Administrators 2013-2014 Math Coaches, Principals, & District Administrators 2014-2015 2015-2016 Teachers from 1 School 2016-2017

If every color represents a different school, what do you notice?? Math Coaches Boxes without lines means person was a math coach Boxes with lines means person was a classroom teacher If every color represents a different school, what do you notice??

Our Problem Interactions between coaches and studio teacher seemed off generated negative feelings for us First response: Blame the coaches. Second response: What’s going on here? Maybe there are things we could do differently. Maybe there are ways to alter studio to make it a richer and more layered learning opportunity.

Focusing Studio on Math Coaches’ Learning Starting with the Math Studios in 2014-2015, we started to create spaces and use structures that intentionally focused participants to think about math teaching and coaching. How we created spaces: An example of an observation sheet participants used in the planning, teaching, & debriefing sessions Changes in use of time and use of structures, layer with animation

Learning to Think Systematically about the Complexity of Teaching “Teachers must learn to weigh difficult dilemmas and to make and implement decisions on the fly; to put their plans into action effectively as well as to alter plans for unforeseen circumstances while they are in the midst of teaching.” (p.370) Hammerness, K., Darling-Hammond, L., Bransford, J., with Berliner D., Cochran-Smith, M., McDonald, M.,& Zeichner, K. (2005). How teachers learn and develop. pp.358-389. In Darling-Hammond & Bransford (Eds.) Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do. Washington, DC: National Academy of Education.

Learning Community Understanding Practices Vision Dispositions Tools

Learning to Think Systematically about the Complexity of TeachingCoaching “TeachersCoaches must learn to weigh difficult dilemmas and to make and implement decisions on the fly; to put their plans into action effectively as well as to alter plans for unforeseen circumstances while they are in the midst of teachingCoaching.” (p.370) Hammerness, K., Darling-Hammond, L., Bransford, J., with Berliner D., Cochran-Smith, M., McDonald, M.,& Zeichner, K. (2005). How teachers learn and develop. pp.358-389. In Darling-Hammond & Bransford (Eds.) Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do. Washington, DC: National Academy of Education.

Understanding Coaches Through Transcript Excerpts How are math coaches understanding their work? Look at excerpts of a math coach’s contributions within a cycle of Math Studio What are the affordances and limitations of examining these excerpts of coaches contributions?

Examining Data

Where are the excerpts coming from? Teacher Irene’s Studio: Cycle 1 Oct 1 & 2, 2014 Cycle 2 Nov 5 & 6, 2014 Cycle 3 Jan 21 & 22, 2015 Cycle 4 Feb 10 & 11, 2015 Teacher Jackie’s Studio: Cycle 1 Nov 19 & 20, 2014 Cycle 2 Jan 26 & 27, 2015 Cycle 1 Feb 17 & 18, 2015

Where are the excerpts coming from? Teacher Irene’s Studio: Cycle 1 Oct 1 & 2, 2014 Cycle 2 Nov 5 & 6, 2014 Cycle 3 Jan 21 & 22, 2015 Cycle 4 Feb 10 & 11, 2015 Teacher Jackie’s Studio: Cycle 1 Nov 19 & 20, 2014 Cycle 2 Jan 26 & 27, 2015 Cycle 1 Feb 17 & 18, 2015 Excerpts of data are coming from these cycles

Introducing the speakers in the transcripts Facilitator 1 (Ruth) & Facilitator 2 (Molly) In charge of facilitating the planning, teaching, and debriefing of Studio Teacher Irene A veteran teacher on her 12th year of teaching at one school; finished Primarily Math Teacher Jackie A beginning teacher on her 3rd year of teaching at one school; in the midst of Primarily Math Coach Maxine A 4th year mathematics coach split among two Coach K A 4th year mathematics coach who is friends with Teacher Irene and Coach Maxine Supervisor 1 & Supervisor 2 District level supervisors who oversee Elementary Mathematics program Coach C, Coach H, Coach L, Coach Mark, Coach T, Principal B Other various coaches or principals who participated in the conversation

Math for Teacher Irene’s Cycle Five frame displaying 3 is 2 away from 5 Ten frame displaying 6 as one more than 5 but 4 more would be needed to make 10 What might students find difficult when transitioning from a 5 frame to a 10 frame?

Sets of Excerpts: Teacher Irene’s Cycle 1 Label Coach Maxine’s contributions Coach Maxine Interactions with Teacher Irene During Planning Session 10-1-14 (yellow) Coach Maxine Interactions with Teacher Irene During Debriefing Session 10-2-14 (green)

Modes of Communication or the Voices of Coaches Giving advice (telling the teacher what to do, offering suggestions) (GA) Criticizing (C) Asking questions and finding out what the teacher intended (Q) Sharing curiosity about students’ thinking (ST) Problem solving collaboratively on specific issues (PS) Praising or affirming (P) Other* give each interaction you identify as other a name. Lenses on Learning

Reflections on Teacher Irene’s Studio What do coaches and teachers gain or lose from their approaches to such conversations?

Representing all of the data task Make a pie chart that represents Coach Maxine’s moves Count up all labels used at your table. Calculate the percentage for each label. Use the following colors to represent each label in your pie chart: Giving Advice (GA) = Purple Criticizing (C) = Blue Asking Questions (Q) = Green Curiosity about students‘ thinking (ST) = Brown Problem Solving (PS) = Red Praising or Affirming (P) = Black Other (O) = Orange

Our current learning of teachers as learners and coaches as learners

How does this apply to math coaches? Learning Community Understanding Practices Vision Dispositions Tools How does this apply to math coaches?

Connection to Keynote Address The Rights of a Learner You have the right to be confused. You have the right to make mistakes. You have the right to only say what makes sense to you. You have the right to write what makes sense to you. Do teachers feel like they have these rights? Do math coaches feel like they have these rights?

Learning Community Understanding Practices Vision Dispositions Tools