Confronting Mathematical Pseudo-Community: A Domain-specific Analysis of a Middle School Mathematics Department

Paul Weinberg

doi:10.29333/ejmste/106055

Full Text (PDF)

Paul Weinberg ¹ ^*

More Detail

¹ Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Teacher professional community refers to the extent to which teachers collaborate to further their own and their students’ learning. Peck (1995) drew distinctions between pseudo-community and professional community, where pseudo-communities rely on suppression of conflict and the tacit understandings that it is “against the rules” to challenge others’ beliefs and ideas. The teacher education literature is predominantly composed of domain-general characterizations of teacher community. This study investigates the pseudo-communities of five middle school mathematics teachers’ through a domain-specific characterization of criteria of professional community. These characterizations are made using teacher responses to surveys and interaction analysis during a meeting between middle school mathematics teachers and researchers. These analyses allow for the investigation of why domain-general characterizations of pseudo-community may be limited.

Keywords

mathematics education
in-service teacher education

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 15, Issue 7, July 2019, Article No: em1715

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/106055

Publication date: 29 Mar 2019

Article Views: 2269

Article Downloads: 1112

Open Access References How to cite this article

References

Avalos, B. (2011). Teacher professional development in teaching and teacher education over ten years. Teaching and teacher education, 27(1), 10-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.08.007.
Borko, H. (2004). Professional development and teacher learning: Mapping the terrain. Educational researcher, 33(8), 3-15. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X033008003.
Bryk, A. S., & Schneider, B. (2003). Trust in schools: A core resource for school reform. Educational leadership, 60(6), 40-45.
Bryk, A., Camburn, E., & Louis, K. S. (1999). Professional community in Chicago elementary schools: Facilitating factors and organizational consequences. Educational administration quarterly, 35(5), 751-781.
DuFour, R. (2004). What is a “professional learning community”? Educational leadership, 61(8), 6-11.
Eaker, R., DuFour, R., & DuFour, R. (2002). Getting started: Reculturing schools to become professional learning communities. Solution Tree Press.
Franke, M. L., Carpenter, T. P., Levi, L., & Fennema, E. (2001). Capturing teachers’ generative change: A follow-up study of professional development in mathematics. American educational research journal, 38(3), 653-689. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312038003653.
Gamoran, A., Anderson, C. W., Quiroz, P. A., Secada, W. G., Williams, T., & Ashman, S. (2003). Transforming teaching in math and science: How schools and districts can support change. New York: Teachers College Press.
Grossman, P., Wineburg, S., & Woolworth, S. (2000). What Makes Teacher Community Different from a Gathering of Teachers? An Occasional Paper.
Grossman, P., Wineburg, S., & Woolworth, S. (2001). Toward a theory of teacher community. The Teachers College Record, 103(6), 942-1012. https://doi.org/10.1111/0161-4681.00140.
Hill, H. C. (2010). The nature and predictors of elementary teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 41(5), 513-545.
Hill, H. C., Blunk, M. L., Charalambous, C. Y., Lewis, J. M., Phelps, G. C., Sleep, L., & Ball, D. L. (2008). Mathematical knowledge for teaching and the mathematical quality of instruction: An exploratory study. Cognition and instruction, 26(4), 430-511. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370000802177235.
Horn, I. S., & Kane, B. D. (2015). Opportunities for professional learning in mathematics teacher workgroup conversations: Relationships to instructional expertise. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 24(3), 373-418. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2015.1034865.
Jordan, B., & Henderson, A. (1995). Interaction analysis: Foundations and practice. The journal of the learning sciences, 4(1), 39-103. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327809jls0401_2.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511815355.
Lieberman, A., Miller, L., Wiedrick, J., & von Frank, V. (2011). Learning communities: The starting point for professional learning is in schools and classrooms. The Learning Professional, 32(4), 16.
Little, J. W. (1982). Norms of collegiality and experimentation: Workplace conditions of school success. American educational research journal, 19(3), 325-340. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312019003325.
Little, J. W. (2012). Professional community and professional development in the learning-centered school. Teacher learning that matters: International perspectives, 22-46.
Louis, K. S., Kruse, S. D., & Marks, H. M. (1996). School wide professional community. In F.M.
Mathematics Learning Study Committee. (2001). Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics. National Academies Press.
McLaughlin, M. (1993). What Matters Most in Teachers’ Workplace Context? ln J. W. Little & M. McLaughlin (Eds.), Teachers’ Work: Individuals, Colleagues, and Contexts, (pl. 79-103). New York: Teachers College Press. American Sociological Review, 51, 464-481.
McLaughlin, M. W., & Talbert, J. E. (2006). Building school-based teacher learning communities: Professional strategies to improve student achievement (Vol. 45). Teachers College Press.
National Governors Association. (2010). Common Core State Standards. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org.
Newmann & Assoc. Authentic achievement: Restructuring schools for intellectual quality. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (pp. 185-218).
Newmann, F. M., & Associates. (1996). Authentic achievement: Restructuring schools for intellectual quality. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Peck, M. S. (1995). In search of stones: a pilgrimage of faith, reason, and discovery. Hyperion.
Resnick, L. B. (1987). Education and learning to think. National Academies.
Stoll, L., & Louis, K. S. (2007). Professional learning communities: Divergence, depth and dilemmas. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Tharp, R., & Gallimore, R. (1988). Rousing minds to life: Teaching, learning, and schooling in social contexts. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Weinberg, P. J. (accepted with minor revisions). Classroom discussion as an artifact towards teachers’ professional community. International Journal for Mathematics Teaching and Learning.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511803932.

How to cite this article

APA

Weinberg, P. (2019). Confronting Mathematical Pseudo-Community: A Domain-specific Analysis of a Middle School Mathematics Department. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 15(7), em1715. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/106055

Vancouver

Weinberg P. Confronting Mathematical Pseudo-Community: A Domain-specific Analysis of a Middle School Mathematics Department. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2019;15(7):em1715. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/106055

AMA

Weinberg P. Confronting Mathematical Pseudo-Community: A Domain-specific Analysis of a Middle School Mathematics Department. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2019;15(7), em1715. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/106055

Chicago

Weinberg, Paul. "Confronting Mathematical Pseudo-Community: A Domain-specific Analysis of a Middle School Mathematics Department". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2019 15 no. 7 (2019): em1715. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/106055

Harvard

Weinberg, P. (2019). Confronting Mathematical Pseudo-Community: A Domain-specific Analysis of a Middle School Mathematics Department. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 15(7), em1715. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/106055

MLA

Weinberg, Paul "Confronting Mathematical Pseudo-Community: A Domain-specific Analysis of a Middle School Mathematics Department". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 15, no. 7, 2019, em1715. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/106055