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posted by:
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Laura Harnish
on May 13, 2003
at 11:04PM
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subject:
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professional development targeting knowledge
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The teachers in our district have been developing several forms of
knoweldge. The first is their content knowledge. This is defined
according to Deborah's first definition. We wrote into our grant that
all teachers would take a content class (Algebra or Geometry)to enhance
their own knowledge of mathematics. This piece of professional
development was designed for several reasons. There was research, as
Deborah mentioned, that advocate for increased content knowldege. We
knew that many of our teachers had not taken a math class in many
years. So, we wanted teachers to experience learning math themselves
as students are currently learing it in our schools. The classes
emphasized algebra or geometry concepts. Some teachers were a little
reluctant to take these classes, because they would have preferred
classes that focused more on methods of teaching. In particular our
primary grade teachers questioned why they needed to study advanced
math concepts when they really only had to teach elementary concepts.
A second form of professional development that we provide is grade
level meetings. In these meeting (monthly or weekly depending on the
school)teachers analyze student work and plan instruction together.
The focus here is developing pedagogical content knowledge. This is
the second definition that Deborah is talking about. We want teachers
to become more skilled in how to teach math. I am definitely going to
encourage the rest of the teacher leaders in my district to reflect on
this: Are our grade level meetings addressing those teaching behaviors
that Deborah Ball mentions in her address such as how to analyze errors
or how to compare various solutions? My response would be that yes, we
sometimes address this kind of teacher content knowledge, but we
probably have not made it explicit to the teacher that these math
skills are what we are trying to develop. A third form of professional
development that we do is classroom support. This is where a teacher
leader will visit a classroom to have a shared experience. Then the
teacher and teacher leader will meet to have a reflective dialogue. In
this form of professional development, there are many opportunities for
teachers to discuss specific examples, such as those provided by
Deborah Ball. This is where teachers can really develop the "content
knowledge in use" in what we are referring to as embedded professional
development. I feel good that we provide a variety of experiences for
our teachers. Yet, as I reflect on Deborah's speech, I think that we
could be more focused on the the math skills required by our practice.
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