| Teachers often face challenges when establishing a classroom environment conducive to meaningful mathematical discussion. In this study, a teacher-researcher collaboration was established with a secondary school mathematics teacher using an intervention based upon focused reflection on videotapes of his instruction. The purpose was to investigate the nature of change that occurred in both the teaching and reflection practices associated with the classroom mathematics as he used a reform curriculum.; Data included audiotaped pre-, mid-, and post-interviews, and collaboration sessions that used a Discourse Reflection Tool (DRT) in conjunction with the viewing of videotaped episodes, and videotaped classroom observations.; Analysis of transcripts from interviews, collaboration sessions, and selected episodes from the videotaped observations led to a series of findings. In terms of the change in the teacher's reflection, the analysis gave rise to three observations. First, the teacher exhibited a shift from explaining away or defending his practices to openly reflecting and considering alternative ways of thinking. Second, the teacher shifted from using general terms while talking about the “natural” development of the discourse to more clearly identifying and articulating the role the teacher plays in developing meaningful mathematical discussions. Third, the teacher held as a consistent focus students' comfort as opposed to learning the mathematics.; In terms of the classroom mathematics discourse, three more observations resulted from the study. First, an analysis of the data showed a shift in talking from teacher to student. Second, there was a shift in the teacher's talk from eliciting merely answers to probing student thinking. Finally, a tendency not to talk about meaningful mathematical content persisted.; The implications of this study for professional development can be summarized as six necessary components for encouraging teacher change: (a) an awareness of a series of affective phases related to teacher change; (b) an awareness of teachers' sense of efficacy; (c) a willingness to listen to teachers and to provide guidance without evaluation; (d) providing reflection on videotaped episodes of teachers' classrooms; (e) a focus on the importance of students' mathematical thinking; and (f) a focus on identifying and reconciling inconsistencies in teachers' practices. |
