Prospective Teachers' Powerful Mathematical Affect: A Case Study of TeachLivE Rehearsals at a Historically Black College/University

• In Event: Roundtable Session 54
  In Roundtable Session: Innovative Approaches to Approximations of Practice in Teacher Education

Abstract

This study seeks to develop an understanding of preservice teachers’ affective behavioral patterns observed in a mathematics practicum course. Twenty-one African American PSTs participated in the process of rehearsing in TeachLivE™ (a mixed-reality classroom with avatars). To analyze the powerful mathematical affect observed in these rehearsals, Goldin et al.’s (2011) ‘engagement structure’ archetypes were applied. Findings reveal that engagement structures can be a powerful tool for examining PSTs’ praxes, and the motivating desires and beliefs behind them. Engagement structures, first theorized for inner city students, has transcendental value in that it can link teachers’ prior ‘in-the-moment’ behavior as math learners with their ‘in-the-moment’ behavior as math teachers. Transcendental engagement structures have implications for improving teacher praxes, and ultimately, teacher quality.

Authors

• Deena Khalil, Howard University

• Barry Hamilton, The Education Trust

• Dwayne Bryant, Howard University

• Gregory Reed, Howard University

• Salman Elbedour, Howard University