Student and Mentor Teachers’ Developing Beliefs About Equity in Mathematics Teaching

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 2:30 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Perspectives on Equity in Student Teacher Field Supervision (Table 22)

Abstract

While developing equity-oriented beliefs about teaching mathematics is important, there is a lack of understanding as to how to help teachers develop these beliefs and the skills needed to act upon them. One possible avenue is through mentor teachers in the student teaching placement. To understand how mentor and student teacher beliefs about equity in mathematics teaching develop during student teaching, I collected reflection journals from and interviewed four pairs of student and mentor teachers during a semester-long student teaching placement. I hypothesize that mentor teachers can influence how student teachers conceptualize equity in elementary math classrooms. Additionally, I hypothesize that these opportunities for reflection on equity in practice may help both mentor and student teachers develop more equity-oriented beliefs.

Author

• Kateri Sternberg, University of Delaware