Adaptive Equity-Focused Professional Development: Mathematics Language Routines in Mathematics Studio Days

• In Event: Using Mathematics Studio Projects to Ground Considerations for Researching the Effectiveness of Adaptive Professional Development

Abstract

​​Objectives
This paper focuses on the work of one group of 11 high school Integrated Math I teachers who participated in a two-year professional learning program organized around multilingual learner mathematics Studio Days (Von Esch & Kavanagh, 2018). The participating school district wanted to attend to multilingual learners because of the number of students identified as multilingual learners. With few mathematics teachers having had professional learning experiences about both multilingual learners and mathematics (Authors, 2018; Ballantyne et al., 2008), Studio Days provided an adaptive model for this need to be met. Studio Days (shown in Figure 1) are an adaptation of Japanese Lesson Study (Fernandez, 2002), with the biggest difference being that teachers did not always teach the same lessons, instead having the common focus of the same Mathematics Language Routine (MLR; Zwiers et al., 2017). This study focused on understanding how this adaptive professional development (Koellner & Jacobs, 2015) was responsive to the teachers’ needs for equity-focused professional learning opportunities related to multilingual learners.

Perspective
We used a communities of practice (Wenger, 2000) framework to examine how teachers took up the Five Principles of Effective Multilingual Learner Instruction (Authors, 2019b) along Wenger’s three constructs. These principles provided explicit attention to multilingual learners—pedagogy focused on understanding and attention to inquiry that must happen with multilingual learners.

Methods
We qualitatively analyzed four cycles of studio days data that occurred over two years and included video recordings from Year 1, as well as fieldnotes of classroom observations from Year 2. We used a priori coding (Saldaña, 2016), coding first for the Five Principles of Effective Multilingual Learner Instruction (Authors, 2019), and then for Wenger’s (2000) elements of a community of practice: joint enterprise, mutuality, and shared repertoire. We developed (Yin, 2016) themes to understand how the professional development was adaptive (Koellner & Jacobs, 2017) to teachers’ needs around multilingual learners.

Results
Teachers drew on the Five Principles for Effective Multilingual Instruction, while also engaging in a community of practice through the work of the Studio Days. In the work of a joint enterprise, teachers supported each other during their lessons. For example, one teacher supportively did a teach through to help highlight key mathematics during another teacher’s Studio Day lesson. Teachers demonstrated mutuality by openly discussing challenges in developing the MLRs to work with multilingual learners. Finally, the Studio Day teachers developed a shared repertoire around each of the multilingual learner principles as linked to the MLRs. Some MLRs were easier to use than others, particularly with some Studio Days occurring in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the professional learning appeared to be adaptive, with teachers able to take what worked best for their circumstances, such as adopting technology that allowed students to communicate with each other.

Significance
Few professional development opportunities currently attend to both multilingual learners and content; however, this studio day provided both. In doing so, it was adaptive in responding to teachers’ local needs and evolved based on the needs of teachers in the moment (Koellner & Jacobs, 2017).

Authors

• Sarah Ann Roberts, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Julie Bianchini, University of California - Santa Barbara