Designing for Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching: Leveraging Lesson Study in Teacher Education

• In Event: Innovations in Mathematics Teacher Education

Abstract

This study reports on preservice teachers leveraging a microteaching lesson study (MLS) assignment that integrated multicultural literature to promote culturally responsive mathematics teaching (CRMT) during an elementary mathematics methods course. Participation in the assignment’s iterative cycle of plan-teach-revise encouraged preservice teachers to develop their pedagogical knowledge, make purposeful cultural connections from texts to mathematical concepts, and engage in productive reflection on issues pertaining to social justice and systemic inequities in the mathematics classroom. The MLS assignment also provided preservice teachers with a supportive peer learning community that fostered collaborative learning to improve professional practice around CRMT. Recommendations are shared for how similar practice-based experiences can be used to enhance teacher education that addresses mathematical thinking, language, culture, and social justice.

Author

• Alesia Mickle Moldavan, Fordham University