Abstract
This paper reports about professional learning related to mathematics instruction in student-teaching triads. The study focuses on how the joint work of triads offers opportunities for the professional learning of student teachers (interns), mentor teachers, and supervisors. Two elementary student-teaching triads reported different areas of and opportunities for professional learning related to mathematics instruction, with more areas and richer opportunities reported by the triad with more extensive collaboration among its members. Findings suggest the need for professional development activities in which mentors and supervisors can examine their stances toward joint work and professional learning in triads.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators [AMTE]. (2017). Standards for preparing teachers of mathematics. Retrieved from http://amte.net/standards.
Atkinson, P., Coffey, A., Delamont, S., Lofland, J., & Lofland, L. (2001). Handbook of ethnography. London: Sage.
Ball, D. L., Thames, M. H., & Phelps, G. (2008). Content knowledge for teaching: What makes it special? Journal of Teacher Education, 59, 389–407.
Beck, C., & Kosnik, C. (2000). Associate teachers in pre-service education: Clarifying and enhancing their role. Journal of Education for Teaching, 26(3), 207–224.
Beck, C., & Kosnik, C. (2002). Professors and the practicum: Involvement of university faculty in preservice practicum supervision. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(1), 6–19.
Bleiler, S. K. (2015). Increasing awareness of practice through interaction across communities: The lived experiences of a mathematician and mathematics teacher educator. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 18(3), 231–252.
Borko, H., & Mayfield, V. (1995). The roles of the cooperating teacher and university supervisor in learning to teach. Teaching and Teacher Education, 11(5), 501–518.
Bullough, R. V., & Draper, R. J. (2004). Making sense of a failed triad: Mentors, university supervisors, and positioning theory. Journal of Teacher Education, 55(5), 407–420.
Bullough, R. V., Young, J., Erickson, L., Birrell, J. R., Clark, C. D., Egan, M. W., et al. (2002). Rethinking field experience: Partnership teaching versus single-placement teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(1), 68–80.
Burns, R. W., & Badiali, B. J. (2015). When supervision is conflated with evaluation: Teacher candidates’ perceptions of their novice supervisor. Action in Teacher Education, 37(4), 418–437.
Butler, B. M., & Cuenca, A. (2012). Conceptualizing the roles of mentor teachers during student teaching. Action in Teacher Education, 34(4), 296–308.
Campbell, T., & Lott, K. (2010). Triad dynamics: Investigating social forces, roles, and storylines. Teaching Education, 21, 349–366.
Charalambous, C. Y., Hill, H. C., & Ball, D. L. (2011). Prospective teachers’ learning to provide instructional explanations: How does it look and what might it take? Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 14, 441–463.
Clarke, A., Triggs, V., & Nielsen, W. (2014). Cooperating teacher participation in teacher education: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 84(2), 163–202.
Clift, R. T., & Brady, P. (2005). Research on methods courses and field experiences. In M. Cochran-Smith & K. M. Zeichner (Eds.), Studying teacher education: The report of the AERA panel on research and teacher education (pp. 309–424). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Cooper, S., & Nesmith, S. (2013). Exploring the role of field experience context on preservice teachers’ development as mathemtics educators. Action in Teacher Education, 35(3), 165–185.
Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation [CAEP]. (2013). CAEP accreditation standards. Retrieved from http://caepnet.org/~/media/Files/caep/standards/caep-2013-accreditation-standards.pdf.
Gallo-Fox, J., & Scantlebury, K. (2016). Coteaching as professional development for cooperating teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 60, 191–202.
Gardiner, W. (2010). Mentoring two student teachers: Mentors’ perceptions of peer placements. Teaching Education, 21(3), 233–246.
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Chicago: Aldine Publishing.
Goodchild, S., Fuglestad, A. B., & Jaworski, B. (2013). Critical alignment in inquiry-based practice in developing mathematics teaching. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 84, 393–412.
Goodnough, K., Osmond, P., Dibbon, D., Glassman, M., & Stevens, K. (2009). Exploring a triad model of student teaching: Pre-service teacher and cooperating teacher perceptions. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 285–296.
Grossman, P. L. (1990). The making of a teacher: Teacher knowledge and teacher education. New York: Teachers College Press.
Guba, E. G. (1981). Criteria for assessing trustworthiness of naturalistic inquiries. Educational Communication and Technology: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Development, 29(2), 75–91.
Guise, M., Habib, M., Thiessen, K., & Robbins, A. (2017). Continuum of co-teaching implementation: Moving from traditional student teaching to co-teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 66, 370–382.
Hallman-Thrasher, A. (2017). Prospective elementary teachers’ responses to unanticipated incorrect solutions to problem-solving tasks. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 20(6), 519–555.
Hodges, T. E., & Hodge, L. H. (2017). Unpacking personal identities for teaching mathematics within the context of prospective teacher education. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 20, 101–118.
Hoffman, J. V., Wetzel, M. M., Maloch, B., Greeter, E., Taylor, L., DeJuilo, S., et al. (2015). What can we learn from studying the coaching interactions between cooperating teachers and preservice teachers: A literature review. Teaching and Teacher Education, 52, 99–112.
Jacobs, J., Hogarty, K., & Burns, R. W. (2017). Elementary preservice teacher field supervision: A survey of teacher education programs. Action in Teacher Education, 39(2), 172–186.
Kauffman, D., Johnson, S. M., Kardos, S. M., Liu, E., & Peske, H. G. (2002). “Lost at sea”: New teachers’ experiences with curriculum and assessment. Teachers College Record, 104, 273–300.
Kwan, T., & Lopez-Real, F. (2005). Mentors’ perceptions of their roles in mentoring student teachers. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 33, 275–287.
Landt, S. M. (2004). Professional development of middle and secondary level educators in the role of cooperating teacher. Action in Teacher Education, 26(1), 74–84.
Lewis, C. C., Perry, R. R., & Hurd, J. (2009). Improving mathematics instruction through lesson study: A theoretical model and North American case. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 12(4), 285–304.
Little, J. W. (1990). The persistence of privacy: Autonomy and initiative in teachers’ professional relations. Teachers College Record, 91(4), 509–536.
Lloyd, G. M. (2007). Strategic compromise: A student teacher’s design of kindergarten mathematics instruction in a high-stakes testing climate. Journal of Teacher Education, 58(4), 328–347.
Lloyd, G. M. (2008). Curriculum use while learning to teach: One student teacher’s appropriation of mathematics curriculum materials. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 39(1), 63–94.
Mason, J. (2002). Qualitative researching (2nd ed.). London, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Meirink, J. A., Meijer, P. C., & Verloop, N. (2007). A closer look at teachers’ individual learning in collaborative settings. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 13(2), 145–164.
Moorman, R. H., & Podsakoff, P. M. (1992). A meta-analytic review and empirical test of the potential confounding effects of social desirability response sets in organizational behaviour research. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 65(2), 131–149.
Murphy, C., & Martin, S. N. (2015). Coteaching in teacher education: Research and practice. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 43(3), 277–280.
National Association for Professional Development Schools [NAPDS]. (2008). What It means to be a professional development school. Retrieved from http://napds.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Nine-Essentials.pdf.
Nolan, J. F., & Hoover, L. A. (2010). Teacher supervision and evaluation: Theory into practice (3rd edn.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Peterson, B. E., & Williams, S. R. (2008). Learning mathematics for teaching in the student teaching experience: Two contrasting cases. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 11(6), 459–478.
Rigelman, N. M., & Ruben, B. (2012). Creating foundations for collaboration in schools: Utilizing professional learning communities to support teacher candidate learning and visions of teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28, 979–989.
Roth McDuffie, A., & Mather, M. (2009). Middle school mathematics teachers’ use of curricular reasoning in a collaborative professional development project. In J. T. Remillard, B. A. Herbel-Eisenmann, & G. M. Lloyd (Eds.), Mathematics teachers at work: Connecting curriculum materials and classroom instruction (pp. 302–320). New York: Routledge.
Roth, W. M., Tobin, K., Carambo, C., & Dalland, C. (2004). Coteaching: Creating resources for learning and learning to teach chemistry in urban high schools. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41(9), 882–904.
Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4–14.
Slick, S. K. (1997). Assessing versus assisting: The supervisor’s roles in the complex dynamics of the student teaching triad. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13(7), 713–726.
Slick, S. K. (1998). The university supervisor: A disenfranchised outsider. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13(7), 713–726.
Stockero, S. L., & Van Zoest, L. R. (2012). Characterizing pivotal teaching moments in beginning mathematics teachers’ practice. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 16, 125–147.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. London: Sage.
Sudzina, M., Giebelhaus, C. R., & Coolican, M. (1997). Mentor or tormentor: The role of the cooperating teacher in student teacher success or failure. Action in Teacher Education, 18(4), 23–35.
Towers, J. (2010). Learning to teach mathematics through inquiry: A focus on the relationship between describing and enacting inquiry-oriented teaching. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 13(3), 243–263.
Valencia, S. W., Martin, S. D., Place, N. A., & Grossman, P. (2009). Complex interactions in student teaching: Lost opportunities for learning. Journal of Teacher Education, 60(3), 304–322.
van Velzen, C., Volman, M., Brekelmans, M., & White, S. (2012). Guided work-based learning: Sharing practical teaching knowledge with student teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28, 229–239.
Van Zoest, L. R., & Bohl, J. V. (2002). The role of reform curricular materials in an internship: The case of Alice and Gregory. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 5(3), 265–288.
Veal, M. L., & Rikard, L. (1998). Cooperating teachers’ perspectives on the student teaching triad. Journal of Teacher Education, 49(2), 108–119.
Villa, R. A., Thousand, J. S., & Nevin, A. I. (2013). A guide to co-teaching: New lessons and strategies to facilitate student learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Watson, A., & De Geest, E. (2014). Department-initiated change. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 87(3), 351–368.
Wolcott, H. (1994). Transforming qualitative data. London: Sage.
Wood, M. B., & Turner, E. E. (2015). Bringing the teacher into teacher preparation: Learning from mentor teachers in joint methods activities. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 18(1), 27–51.
Zwart, R. C., Wubbels, T., Bulhuis, S., & Bergen, T. C. M. (2008). Teacher learning through reciprocal peer coaching: An analysis of activitiy sequences. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(4), 982–1002.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lloyd, G.M., Rice, C.L. & McCloskey, A.V. Opportunities for professional learning about mathematics instruction: the role of joint work in student-teaching triads. J Math Teacher Educ 23, 499–525 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-019-09439-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-019-09439-y