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This paper examines the learning process of facilitators engaging in a practice-based professional development (PD) called StoryCircles facilitator training. We observed the language used by facilitators when engaging in a demonstration1) of practice in which another facilitator leads a group of secondary mathematics teachers engaged in StoryCircles PD to consensus. Subsequently, facilitators simulate the role of teachers in StoryCircles PD to anticipate challenges they, as facilitators, may face. By analyzing facilitators' collective dialogue across the different practice-based approaches within the StoryCircles facilitator training, we highlight the adoption of others' roles within the PD context and facilitators' understanding of their own roles as a result. Findings indicate that the demonstration of a facilitator's practice was a context in which facilitators developed an understanding of their own responsibilities. Meanwhile, simulating the participants' practices allowed facilitators to better understand the role of the facilitator from the demonstration of practice, as they navigated the potential tensions arising from teachers adopting practices that facilitators deemed less desirable. This paper highlights how such situated practice-based learning experiences may be associated with facilitators' perceptions of their roles within the StoryCircles framework, offering insights into the intricacies of PD facilitator training and practice.
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On designing better structures for feedback in practice-based professional development: Using “failure” to innovate
This research article contributes to the growing literature highlighting the potential for innovation in mathematics education through design cycles that involve creative risk-taking and failure-based learning. Specifically, we explore how “failed” cycles of StoryCircles—a practice-based professional development approach that centers on teacher collaboration—have been productive in fostering innovations within the program. Our focus is on the challenges that arose in our efforts to enable feedback mechanisms within the StoryCircles system that support teachers’ interrogation of their own instructional practice, as they collaboratively develop lessons and expand their collective knowledge base for teaching mathematics. Through examples of three challenges, we illustrate how various lesson artifacts, including those constructed by teachers in anticipation of implementation and those extracted from actual implementations, failed to serve as the sole source of feedback for supporting teachers’ growth.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2201087
- PAR ID:
- 10435727
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education
- ISSN:
- 1386-4416
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-023-09588-1
