Responding to Emergent Problems of Practice in Side-by-side Coaching

• In Event: Reimagining Professional Learning Structures: Supporting Teacher Educators to Lead Ambitious and Equitable Mathematics Teacher Learning

Abstract

An enduring challenge in professional development (PD) is how to support teachers to bring their learning into their classrooms (e.g., Borko, 2004). Practice-embedded teacher learning designs aim to address this challenge by situating PD closer to practice (Gibbons et al., 2021). We examine one such design, side-by-side coaching, to understand what problems of practice emerge while teachers are enacting ambitious mathematics instruction and how those problems are addressed when a coach is positioned to support teacher learning during instruction. We ask: (1) What problems of practice do the coach and teacher address in the transition from appropriation to guided participation with students? and (2) How do the coach and teacher address problems of practice in shifting from appropriation to guided participation with students?
Methods
We analyzed 21 video-recorded side-by-side coaching sessions with three elementary mathematics teachers in which the teachers focused on conferring—interacting with students during collaborative problem-solving to support sensemaking (Author, 2019). We identified conferring interactions (n=50) and segmented each into guided participation and appropriation (Author et al., 2024). Guided participation occurred when the teacher and coach shared instructional leadership (joint teaching), when the coach led and the teacher listened in (modeling), or when the teacher and coach stepped away and interacted without students. Appropriation occurred when the teacher led instruction and the coach listened in.
We mapped sequences of guided participation and appropriation; when appropriation occurred, (n = 22 of 50), it occurred first and often (n = 17 of 22) was followed by joint teaching or modeling. For these 17 interactions, we wrote memos about what occurred during appropriation and after the shift to guided participation and the problem of practice addressed. We developed categories for the problems of practice and the ways they were addressed.

Findings
In 15 of 17 instances (88%), the shift from appropriation to guided participation addressed an emergent problem of practice, which the teacher and coach addressed at the point of transition. In the two other cases, an interruption precipitated the shift. We identified three problems of practice precipitating these shifts: (1) how to elicit, interpret, and respond to student thinking (Franke et al., 2009), (2) how to support students to make sense of the mathematical task, and (3) how to support students to develop models or strategies for the mathematical task. Through pauses, joint teaching, and modeling, the coach and teacher addressed these problems of practice using a suite of tools: suggesting or eliciting an interpretation of student thinking, suggesting a pedagogical move, and implementing pedagogical moves to advance the interaction with students.
Discussion
Appropriation can create opportunities to surface problems of practice that can then be addressed through guided participation with an attentive coach, enabling the teacher and coach to respond to those issues collaboratively. Appropriation is not an endpoint, but a key part of the learning process, as guided participation and appropriation are mutually supportive (Rogoff, 1995). These findings highlight the potential for side-by-side coaching to play an important role in teacher learning of ambitious mathematics instructional practices.

Authors

• Jen Munson, Northwestern University

• Erin E. Baldinger, University of Minnesota