Special Colloquium
Alison Castro
University of Michigan, School of Education
Understanding the teacher-text relationship: Using mathematics curriculum materials to support teacher learning.
Abstract: Learning how to use mathematics curriculum materials effectively is arguably
an important part of the work of teaching. Through my work on the BIFOCAL
Project, a multi-year professional development project aimed at supporting
middle school math teachers' use of curriculum materials, I began to think
about the precise role that these materials play in the work of teaching,
which led to my dissertation study. Briefly, the focus of my dissertation is
an examination of how experienced middle school math teachers use the teacher
guide from the Connected Mathematics Project (CMP) to inform their planning
and instructional decisions around mathematical tasks. In addition to my
experiences as a researcher, I have served as an instructor for mathematics
methods and content courses for perservice elementary teachers. In regards to
curriculum materials, little guidance and support is often provided for
elementary preservice teachers in using math curriculum materials despite the
prevalence of these materials in elementary classrooms. For this reason, I
designed tasks and activities in my courses to help preservice teachers learn
to use these materials effectively. In this talk, I will first describe my
professional development work with inservice teachers in the BIFOCAL Project,
and then talk at some length about my dissertation study, and finally move to
discuss my research related to preservice elementary teachers' use of math
curriculum materials in methods and content courses.
Monday March 27, 2006 at 3:00 PM in SEO 636