Chapter 10: Situating Mathematics Professional Development: A Bilingual Teacher and Researchers’ Collaboration

All of us who engage in professional development activities work to introduce new approaches to teachers that will elevate their practice and improve their students’ learning. Researchers who explore teaching practices through professional development strive to discover that special combination of support and information that teachers need to take an idea and make it their own. It is reasonable to assume the teachers with whom we work hope that the time and effort they put into learning will be worthwhile.

Even when professional development is successful and all the hopes and expectations of the researchers and teachers come together, rarely do the participants have an opportunity to reflect on the experience and collectively learn. In this chapter, we report on a three-year project that became an important professional development experience for the three university researchers and the one kindergarten teacher involved. During this time, we constructed a collaborative partnership, learned from each other, grew professionally, developed warm and supportive relationships, and together, we believe, enhanced children’s mathematical learning.