This study investigated how a middle school mathematics teacher positions herself and her students in the context of teaching Emergent Bilinguals. The teacher's discourses during the planning meetings and teaching sessions were analyzed through the lens of positioning theory. The strongest patterns in the teacher’s positioning were assessor and supporter, respectively. In the planning sessions, the teacher positioned herself as one who assesses EBs’ readiness in mathematics and English and revealed her views that her EBs were not currently ready to do many mathematical and linguistic tasks suggested by the researcher. However, her positioning EBs as capable problem-solvers was clear and consistent throughout all co-planning and co-teaching sessions.
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Teacher Growth in Mathematical Quality of Instruction for Emergent Bilinguals Through Collaborative Professional Development
Many teachers reduce the language and cognitive demand of mathematical tasks to support Emergent Bilinguals (EBs), inadvertently withholding the opportunity to engage with rich mathematical tasks. This study employed collaborative professional development to work with an ELL-only Algebra 1 teacher to co-develop, co-teach, and co-analyze lessons designed to engage EBs in meaningful mathematical discourse. The research team used the Mathematical Quality of Instruction and Quality of Linguistically Diverse Teaching (QLDT) to measure improvement from pre-intervention to post-intervention lessons. Results indicate an improvement in teaching quality in almost every category, with some of the most notable changes occurring in the QLDT, suggesting that the teacher became more aware of EBs’ needs and supported EBs to overcome their language barrier.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1941668
- PAR ID:
- 10521142
- Publisher / Repository:
- AERA 2023
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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