Becoming a teacher: emerging teacher identity in mathematics teacher education

This research examines three aspects of becoming a teacher, teacher identity formation in mathematics teacher education: the cognitive and affective aspect, the image of an ideal teacher directing the developmental process, and as an on-going process. The formation of emerging teacher identity was approached in a social psychological framework, in which individual development takes place in social interaction with the context through various experiences. Formation of teacher identity is seen as a dynamic, on-going developmental process, in which an individual intentionally aspires after the ideal image of being a teacher by developing his/her own competence as a teacher. The starting-point was that it is possible to examine formation of teacher identity through conceptualisation of observations that the individual and others have about teacher identity in different situations. The research uses the qualitative case study approach to formation of emerging teacher identity, the individual developmental process and the socially constructed image of an ideal mathematics teacher. Two student cases, John and Mary, and the collective case of teacher educators representing socially shared views of becoming and being a mathematics teacher are presented. The development of each student was examined based on three semi-structured interviews supplemented with written products. The data-gathering took place during the 2005 2006 academic year. The collective case about the ideal image provided during the programme was composed of separate case displays of each teacher educator, which were mainly based on semi-structured interviews in spring term 2006. The intentions and aims set for students were of special interest in the interviews with teacher educators. The interview data was analysed following the modified idea of analytic induction. The formation of teacher identity is elaborated through three themes emerging from theoretical considerations and the cases. First, the profile of one s present state as a teacher may be scrutinised through separate affective and cognitive aspects associated with the teaching profession. The differences between individuals arise through dif-ferent emphasis on these aspects. Similarly, the socially constructed image of an ideal teacher may be profiled through a combination of aspects associated with the teaching profession. Second, the ideal image directing the individual developmental process is the level at which individual and social processes meet. Third, formation of teacher identity is about becoming a teacher both in the eyes of the individual self as well as of others in the context. It is a challenge in academic mathematics teacher education to support the various cognitive and affective aspects associated with being a teacher in a way that being a professional and further development could have a coherent starting-point that an individual can internalise.

Characterizing mentors’ performance in mathematics teacher education

This study describes the performance of the mentors in a blended graduate-level training program of teachers in the field of secondary school mathematics. We codified and analyzed the mentors’ comments on the projects presented by the groups of in-service teachers for whom they (the mentors) were responsible. To do this, we developed a structure of categories and codes based on a combination of a literature review, a model of teacher learning, and a cyclical review of the data. We performed two types of analysis: frequency and cluster. The first analysis permitted us to characterize the common actions shared by most of the mentors. From the second, we established three profiles of the mentors’ actions.

The mathematics teacher's handbook.

Es un manual que proporciona consejos a los profesores para la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de las matemáticas en clase. Entre estas orientaciones figuran: el desarrollo de una cultura eficaz en el aula que favorezca tanto la enseñanza como el aprendizaje y la búsqueda del equilibrio entre ellas, así como, la utilización de la evaluación como parte integrante de ambas tareas y el avance en el conocimiento de conceptos matemáticos.

International Mathematics : teacher's guide 1. 'Matemáticas internacionales : guia del profesor 1'.

Forma parte, junto con el libro de texto y el cuaderno de ejercicios, de un programa para enseñar las matemáticas en secundaria, es decir, a alumnos de once a catorce ó quince años de edad, que además, no hablan inglés en casa, pero están estudiando en esa lengua en la escuela. Este programa, con un nivel medio de inglés, sirve a los estudiantes para la preparación del curso de bachillerato internacional (IGCSE) y cursos equivalentes. Este recurso para el profesor contiene las respuestas a los ejercicios propuestos en el libro del alumno y en el cuaderno de ejercicios, también, le proporciona orientaciones para dar clases y apoyo metodológico.

International Mathematics : teacher's guide 2. 'Matemáticas internacionales : guia del profesor 2'.

Forma parte, junto con el libro de texto y el cuaderno de ejercicios, de un programa para enseñar las matemáticas en secundaria, es decir, a alumnos de once a catorce ó quince años de edad, que además, no hablan inglés en casa, pero están estudiando en esa lengua en la escuela. Este programa, con un nivel medio de inglés, sirve a los estudiantes para la preparación del curso de bachillerato internacional (IGCSE) y cursos equivalentes. Este recurso para el profesor contiene las respuestas a los ejercicios propuestos en el libro del alumno y en el cuaderno de ejercicios, también, le proporciona orientaciones para dar clases y apoyo metodológico.

Functional mathematics. Teacher material.

Recurso para el profesor con los mismos materiales que el libro del alumno, además de enlaces en línea a materiales del profesorado, para que pueda enseñar a los estudiantes a aplicar sus habilidades matemáticas en la práctica. Cada unidad contiene varias preguntas que aumentan en complejidad, y con flexibilidad para que el profesor pueda realizar las actividades.

The Mathematics teacher and curriculum change. 'El profesor de Matemáticas y el cambio de currículo'.

Resumen basado en el de la publicación

Cognitive processes associated with the professional development of Mathematics teacher. 'Procesos cognitivos asociados al desarrollo profesional del profesor de Matem??ticas'

Resumen basado en el de la publicaci??n

A review of research trends in mathematics teacher education. 'Una revisión de las tendencias de investigación en la formación de profesores de matemáticas'.

Resumen basado en el de la publicación

Mathematics teacher education and technology

Various applications of electronic technology have contributed to the field of mathematics teacher education, but the array of tools now' available to teacher educators in developed countries can be somewhat daunting. In this chapter, the authors present an overview of some of these tools and the ways that they are being used. In addition, they address issues surrounding the development and applications of digital technology in teacher education programs in a number of countries. In particular, they present recent applications of videotapes, multimedia resources, internet-based communities, and tutorial conferencing facilities in pre-service and in-service education of mathematics teachers. As professionals who have used technology in teacher education, the authors blend their own insights into this review of technological tools and relevant issues.

Studying mathematics teacher education: analysing the process of task variation on learning

Self-study of variations to task design offers a way of analysing how learning takes place. Over several years, variations were made to improve an assessment task completed by final-year teacher candidates in a primary mathematics teacher education subject. This article describes how alterations to a task informed on-going developments in self-study of one assessment task employed in an online subject. Analysis of my journal, notes from conversations with colleagues, teacher candidates’ work on the task and responses to online forums, and survey data inspired variations focused on better exploration of key concepts involved in the task, raising of focal awareness, developing a stronger professional eye in the students and the author, adaptations for multiple curriculum levels, and explorations of dual teacher–student perspectives. The overall challenge has been to support teacher candidates to learn to design effective open-ended tasks with a critical professional eye. Descriptions of the changes made to the task and the development of my own professional eye as a consequence of the application of self-study are included. Data show that variations to the task increased teacher candidates’ understanding of mathematics problem posing and generated pedagogical insights for task design.