Elementary

Throughout my career, I have collaborated with dedicated and hard-working teachers who have opened their classrooms so that others could learn from them. Yet, one teacher, Sara, stood out from all the others. From the first time I visited Sara's classroom in 1992, I knew she was extraordinary--a teacher who could inspire a Hollywood production. Sara taught Latino English language learners (ELLs) in a low-income urban neighborhood in ways that I had not observed or read about in the literature. She did not reduce the curriculum's level of complexity, especially its language, even though the students were ELLs. Instead, Sara engineered a mathematics learning environment where students actively engaged in collaborative problem solving, oral and written communication and justification, and independent thinking. To give other practitioners insight into how Sara facilitated the participation of ELLs during mathematics, I share my experiences of researching Sara's fifth-grade classroom and provide images of her teaching.

This article provides a cultural-historical (CHAT) analysis of the practices used by an effective teacher of Latino/a children previously classified as “underachieving” and “beginning/novice” English Language Learners. Although the teacher would not describe her practices in strict CHAT, or sociocultural theory (SCT) terms, our analysis shows that teaching practices in this classroom are better understood using a SCT model rather than more prevalent second language acquisition (SLA) models that dominate the field of bilingual/English as a Second Language education. We describe the fundamental limitations of SLA assumptions about learners vis-à-vis a SCT perspective and use classroom and case study data to illustrate how a CHAT perspective illuminates this teacher’s practices. From a CHAT perspective, teaching and learning are socially reorganized around the mediation of dynamic learner identities and include shifts in expert–novice status, dialogic interactions, and the use of innovative mediational tools (e.g., keystrokes on a calculator) to promote academic writing and oral communication. The mediational reorganization described in the classroom opened up access to students who might have been dismissed by a SLA model as “incapable” of engaging in such tasks. We draw on classroom-level data (i.e., standardized scores in reading and math) as well as the work of selected focal students to illustrate our case.

Equity in mathematics education should be one of the most important concerns of
teachers, administrators, policy makers, mathematicians, and mathematics educators. In fact, the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educator (AMTE), the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM), and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics NCTM), three national organizations that support teacher educators, mathematics teachers, and teacher leaders, have made equity a priority for their organizations (Gutierrez et al. 2008). Position statements, standards documents, and various books identify key equity issues and recommend directions compelling all involved in the mathematics education of students to become aware of equity issues and to take steps toward eliminating the inequities that plague K-16 education.

Developed by the Education Development Center and Bank Street College of Education, this professional development program will show general and special education teachers how to collaborate to provide a high-quality, standards-based mathematics education to all students, including those with disabilities. The Math for All learning experiences detailed in the corresponding facilitator’s kit will help teachers:
•Assess students’ strengths and needs
•Use multiple instructional strategies to teach specific math concepts
•Tailor lessons based on individual students' strengths and needs to help them achieve high-quality learning outcomes in mathematics

This program will emphasize how the neurodevelopmental demands of a math lesson interact with individual students' strengths and needs. The authors will provide step-by-step guidance for adapting materials, activities, and instructional strategies to make lessons accessible to all students. This participant book includes the handouts and reproducibles for the program. The forthcoming kit will include a facilitator’s guide and a corresponding DVD.

Developed by Bank Street College of Education and the Education Development Center, this comprehensive professional development resource contains all the materials you need to conduct workshops that will show general and special education teachers how to collaborate to provide a high-quality, standards-based mathematics education to all students, including those with disabilities. The materials will deepen the understanding of both the facilitators and of the participants in these workshops. This resource will enable schools and school districts to increase the expertise of their math and special education leaders and provide their own workshops for teachers rather than hire outside consultants to do so.

The Math for All learning experiences detailed in the enclosed books and DVDs help teachers
•Assess students' strengths and needs
•Use multiple instructional strategies to teach specific math concepts
•Tailor lessons based on individual students' strengths and needs to help them achieve high-quality learning outcomes in mathematics

The authors emphasize how the neurodevelopmental demands of a math lesson interact with individual students' strengths and needs. They also provide step-by-step guidance for adapting materials, activities, and instructional strategies to make lessons accessible to all students.

This comprehensive resource includes two DVDs: one with PowerPoint presentations and embedded classroom videos, and a second DVD with just the video portion that shows examples of how teachers in Grades 3-5 have made math lessons accessible to students—including those with physical, learning, and language challenges. Also enclosed is the Math for All Participant Book, which includes the corresponding handouts and reproducibles for the program.

Despite evidence that it can help students learn higher-order thinking skills and gain deep content knowledge, problem-based learning (PBL) is not deployed on a large scale in K-12 classrooms. This conceptual chapter explores teacher’s past experiences, and resulting habitus, to explain the minimal extent of PBL in K-12 schools. Central to teachers’ abilities to implement PBL is their ability to provide scaffolding, and their habitus may interfere with this process. Implications for teacher education and teacher change are discussed.