A Phenomenological Investigation Into Early-Career Teachers' Interactions With Colleagues Around Mathematics Curriculum

• In Event: 54.072 - The Role of Teachers' Social Networks in the Development of Ambitious Mathematics Instruction

Abstract

Objective. This research study adopts the methodology of phenomenology to explore the mood of early career elementary teachers’ interactions with their colleagues. By comparing and contrasting three cases, this paper explores the effect that colleagues have on how early career elementary teachers interpret and implement mathematics curriculum.
Framework. As teachers interpret and implement reform curricula, they draw on multiple resources (Drake, 2006; O'Donnell, 2008; Remillard, 2005), including their colleagues. Indeed, the degree to which a teacher trusts his or her colleagues and considers them to be valuable instructional resources may influence the teacher’s effective implementation of a given curriculum (Bryk & Schneider, 2002; Coburn & Russell, 2008; Penuel, Fishman, Yamaguchi, & Gallagher, 2007). The current study seeks to illuminate this trend in a novel way by employing the methodology of phenomenology. This methodological orientation asserts that individuals behave in pre-conceptual ways by attuning themselves to the mood that permeates their context (Heidegger, 1962; van Manen, 2007). Through the researching of lived experience (van Manen, 1990), researchers can gain insight into how the essential features of particular moods shape the way teachers cope with their environment.
Data Sources and Methods. I recruited, via a volunteer sample, a small sample of early career teachers to participate in one-on-one phenomenological interviews (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009). The interviews took place at the end of the 2015-16 school year. In these interviews, I asked each teacher to narrate, in rich detail, specific anecdotes of meaningful or memorable moments in which they interacted with their colleagues. These interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. I read these transcripts looking for themes across the interviews (Smith, et al., 2009). In this paper, I present three particular stories that illuminate how the mood within which early career teachers interact with their colleagues can influence the way in which they plan mathematics instruction.
Findings. In the three cases, the early career teachers and their colleagues were in the process of interpreting and implementing a new mathematics curriculum. In two of these cases, the teachers describe experiencing a mood of caring and friendship within their collegial interactions; as a result, these early career teachers openly discussed their curricular challenges, confusions, and concerns with their colleagues. In the third case, however, the teacher felt that her interactions with her colleagues were permeated with a mood of competition and distrust. As a result, she sought to avoid any and all conversations about how she was interpreting or implementing the school’s new curriculum. In all three cases, the mood of the teacher’s collegial interactions shaped the way she used her colleagues as curricular resources.
Significance. An early career teacher’s network of colleagues serves as a potentially valuable resource. While the organization of a school is critical in facilitating these collegial interactions, the current study suggests that, in order to be productive, these interactions must feel a particular way. Friendliness, caring, and trust may be essential affective features of productive collegial relationships.

Author

• Aaron Samuel Zimmerman, Texas Tech University