Widgets and Digits: Novice Middle School Teachers Attending to Mathematics Identity in Practice

• In Event: Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Research in Mathematics Education SIG Roundtable 3

Abstract

In this study of novice middle-school mathematics teachers, I wanted to (a) understand how they were conceptualizing mathematics identity; (b) investigate how they attended to mathematics identity in practice; and (c) glean an understanding of the influential forces in their attention to mathematics identity. I used qualitative methods to highlight the experiences, perspectives, and practices of three practicing novice teachers (PNTs) novice teachers in an urban school district. I used to explore each PNT’s attention to mathematics. Using Engeström ’s activity theory I investigated how each teacher’s practice promoted or impeded students’ mathematics identity. The teachers in the study attended to mathematics identity in in three ways: instructional moves, planning, and via an emergent sociopolitical stance.

Author

• Toya Jones Frank, George Mason University