Mathematics Teachers Discussing Urban Students in Professional Development Meetings

• In Event: Roundtable Session 118
  In Roundtable Session: Mathematical Discourse and Student Learning

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate mathematics teachers’ expressed beliefs about students’ strengths and abilities in the context of a professional development project on culturally relevant mathematics pedagogy. This paper describes how mathematics teachers at a small, urban high school interact with each other as they talk about students’ experiences, tell stories about their students’ lives, and draw conclusions for their teaching practice. Within the context of professional development related to culturally mathematics pedagogy, I connect how teachers’ descriptions of students’ strengths and weaknesses are related to key proposals and decisions made within the mathematics department.

Author

• Andrew Haiwen Chu, WestEd