NSF Mathematics Teaching Leadership Center Dr. Robert MayesDr. Jodie Novak University of WyomingUniversity of Northern Colorado This project is supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation: Mathematics Teacher Leadership Center(DUE ).

Math TLC Overview NSF MSP Institute 5-year project Joint project between –University of Wyoming –University of Northern Colorado –5 partner School Districts in Wyoming and Colorado Develop 2 programs to serve the Rocky Mountain West –Math TLC Master’s Program –Math TLC Teacher Leadership Program

Math TLC Overview Teachers become content specialists in their own practice in a master’s program. In the teacher-leader program they become specialists in helping their peers and in working at the district and state levels to improve mathematics instruction for all. By separating the two strands of professional development, we create two access points for different types of commitment to leadership development. %20development.gif

Math TLC Project Features Collaborative Master’s Program Collaborative Leadership Program Research Program Culturally Responsive Teaching Teaching for Understanding Advancing Mathematics Content Understanding Advancing PCK Innovative Online PD

Math TLC Master’s Program Extend teachers’ content knowledge beyond the content they customarily teach to students. Engage teachers in actively building their pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1987), enabling them to enlarge their repertoire of pedagogical methods, skills and knowledge congruent with Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 2000), the Colorado Model Content Standards (CDE, 2007) and the Wyoming Mathematics Content and Performance Standards (WDE, 2003). Support teachers to evaluate and improve their teaching practice by regularly engaging in lesson experiments and small-scale action research projects. Develop teachers’ knowledge, skills and disposition to effectively teach math in a culturally diverse classroom.

Math TLC Master’s Program 32 credit hours over 2 or 3 years (third summer) Summer: 9 to 10 credit hours over 6 weeks (June-July) –Two content courses –One teaching course –Diversity or Assessment course Academic Year: 6 to 7 credit hours, one course per semester and Action Research Seminar –One content course –One teaching course –Action Research Project seminars

Math TLC Master’s Program SumApplied Prob &Stat (3)Modern Geometry (3)Algebra & No. Th (3) Teaching Prob & Stat (2)Teaching Geometry (2)Teaching Algebra (2) Mathematics Assessment (1) Mathematics Assessments (1) Teaching Diverse Populations (1) Continuous Math (3)Discrete Math (3)Continuous Math (3) Fall Math Ed Research (3) Teaching Diverse Population s (2) Teaching Discrete Math (2) Math Ed Research (3) Teaching Calculus (2) Act Res (1) SpMath Modeling (3)History of Math (3)Problem Solving (3) Action Research (1)

Collaboration Challenges Challenge 1: Collaborative course development challenges university teaching as “private practice” –Explicit course development timelines and standards that foster deep mathematical content knowledge, effective pedagogy, culturally relevant pedagogy, and teaching for mathematical understanding

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy Uses the cultural experiences, characteristics, and perspectives of the students in the room as generative sites for shaping teaching and creating opportunities to learn that are perceived by students to be opportunities (Gay, 2002). Challenged notion that math is “culture-free” Including ethnomathematics and history of mathematics in courses Struggled to figure out what it looks like in practice.

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy Five key areas of teacher learning that increase teaching effectiveness, particularly culturally and ethnically diverse students –developing a knowledge base about cultural diversity –learning mathematical content from ethnically and culturally diverse origins –participating in and building a caring community of learners – this includes developing ways to calibrate teacher intentions with student perceptions –seeing personal communication patterns and using that awareness to learn to communicate effectively with diverse students –responding supportively to socio-economic, cultural, and ethnic diversity in the delivery of instruction.

Collaboration Challenges Challenge 1: Collaborative course development challenges university teaching as “private practice” Sustainability Issue 1: Capture faculty pedagogical content knowledge.

Collaboration Challenges Challenge 2: Using distance delivery technologies challenges core beliefs about what makes a mathematics classroom work and the faculty role in making it work. –Can’t see their faces –Role of assessment –Requires fundamental changes to patterns of teaching

Collaboration Challenges Challenge 2: Using distance delivery technologies challenges core beliefs about what makes a mathematics classroom work and the faculty role in making it work. Sustainability Issue 2: To reach teachers “in their place,” we need to understand and ease the transitions issues for effectively using distance delivery technologies

Collaboration Challenges Challenge 3: Joint program delivery challenges the collaborating departments to revisit their established role in supporting the professional development of in-service teachers –Research 1 versus doctoral –Teaching versus research –Online versus face-to-face

Collaboration Challenges Challenge 3: Joint program delivery challenges the collaborating departments to revisit their established role in supporting the professional development of in-service teachers Sustainability Issue 3: Establishing and maintaining trust. Documentation.

Collaboration Challenges Challenge 3: Joint program delivery challenges the collaborating departments to revisit their established role in supporting the professional development of in-service teachers –Research 1 versus doctoral –Teaching versus research –Online versus face-to-face

Collaboration Challenges Challenge 4: Joint program delivery challenges the collaborating universities to establish an affiliation agreement. Sustainability Issue 4: Affiliation agreement, will requires yearly monitoring to ensure that things are running smoothly.

Math TLC Program Impact University Faculty Impact –Integration of the course characteristics into their teaching Culturally responsive teaching Understanding by Design performance tasks based on 3 to 5 enduring understandings driving the course Advanced perspective on mathematics teacher’s teach, expanding content knowledge that is meaningful to teachers Expanding pedagogical techniques from lecture to active student engagement

Math TLC Program Impact University Faculty Impact –Teaching online Communication challenges such as limited board space, reduced eye contact with students, and group work at a distance Representation challenges such as mathematical symbolism over the air, visual representations at a distance, and 3D models at different sites

Math TLC Program Impact Teacher-Participant Impact –Professional Learning Communities Develop program wide PLC as well as site level PLC Work collaboratively on learning mathematics Sharing of pedagogical strategies and classroom experience

Math TLC Program Impact Teacher-Participant Impact –Classroom Observations of the teachers were conducted to explore impact of the program on their teaching –Classroom Observation Instrument –Classroom Observation Methodology Observed in classroom to assess the impact of underlying course characteristics on their teaching Multiple day observations to examine practice Interviewed after the observations as member checking on the observations Observations and interview data will be analyzed by the Math TLC Research Team

Math TLC Program Impact Multiple Measures –Application and Selection Process Survey –Application and Selection Process Interviews –Math TLC Seminar Survey (focus on Culturally Relevant Teaching and Understanding by Design) –Course Design Survey (focus on incorporation of research- based characteristics that guide course design) –Teacher Participant Course Surveys (focus on quality of course in engaging participants in investigations, PCK, projects, and extending mathematical understanding) –Master’s Program Quality Survey (focus on course expectations, adaptability of courses to teacher input, and technology support) –Research Team’s Technology Survey –Technology Team’s Technology Survey

Math TLC Program Impact Teacher-Participant Impact –Culturally Relevant Teaching –Implementation of culturally relevant teaching and teaching for understanding has been challenging –Need more consensus about what it means to teach from a culturally relevant perspective, then develop a deeper understanding of what this means within teacher-participants –Teachers more aware of what culturally relevant teaching means, but initial evidence of impact in classrooms has not yet been analyzed

Math TLC Program Impact Teacher-Participant Impact –Teaching for Understanding –Five components of Understanding by Design were better understood by faculty and implemented in the courses –Depth at which teaching for understanding was implemented in the courses is currently being analyzed –Will analyze teacher-participant’s practice of teaching for understanding and cultural relevance through Future classroom observations Action Research Projects conducted in their classrooms: these projects are integrated throughout the program and serve as the culminating task for the program

Math TLC Program Impact Teacher-Participant Impact teacher cognitive overload concerns and time issues –Due to varying teacher-participant mathematics backgrounds, ensuring advanced content in mathematics courses connected to mathematics taught on the secondary level is difficult –teachers found courses challenging –number of summer courses overwhelming for middle school teachers –teachers indicated math course content was appropriate (85% of participants) –92% were likely or very likely to recommend the courses to other teachers –teachers liked being challenged to think in a supportive environment, class discussions that challenged ideas, the opportunity to think and analyze various points of view, explorations, time to ask questions, working collaboratively, and connections to real-life problems –Appreciated instructors being flexible, understanding content from more than one perspective, having a sense of humor, showing passion for mathematics, and being patient

Math TLC Program Impact Teacher-Participant Impact technology issues –Technology Surveys indicated that the majority of the teachers felt the technology reduced interaction with course instructors and with teachers at remote sites –addressed early in the summer semester, with the addition of online video conferencing to support the video broadcasts –technology concerns had greatly reduced, though it was not eliminated (17% of teacher-participants still expressed concerns about the technology aspects of the program at the end of the summer session)

Math TLC Program Impact Teacher-Participant Impact technology issues –Teachers were provided webcams, writing tablets, and microphones for participation in online video conferencing –Only 4% were not satisfied with the hardware they were provided –Summer program only used online video conferencing as a back channel to the video broadcast –Fall 2009 course synchronous sessions were conducted using only the online video conferencing package Elluminate –Preliminary indications are that the teachers were satisfied with the hardware and software packages used in this course

Math TLC Program Impact Teacher-Participant Impact technology issues –Technology Surveys indicated a need for increased technology professional development for both the university faculty teaching the courses and the teacher participants –Provide a common format for posting course materials in the Course Management Systems (Blackboard and Ecompanion) so that teacher participants can easily locate assignments

NSF Mathematics Teaching Leadership Center Dr. Robert MayesDr. Jodie Novak University of WyomingUniversity of Northern Colorado This project is supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation: Mathematics Teacher Leadership Center(DUE ).