Chapter 15: Bringing Mathematics Methods into Classrooms:

The Blue Ribbon Panel Report of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education begins with a dire statement and call for action to teacher education programs across the nation:

To address this charge, we suggest that mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) situate prospective teacher (PT) learning within the P–12 context to purposefully observe, plan, enact, and reflect on their experiences in ways that support the development of ambitious teaching (Kazemi, Franke, & Lampert, 2009). To help PTs develop the knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions to positively impact P–12 students, Grossman, Hammerness, and McDonald (2009) suggest that teacher preparation “move from discussing what one might do as a teacher to actually taking on the role of the teacher…while receiving feedback on their early efforts to enact a practice” (p. 283). Integrating mathematics methods courses in the P–12 setting affords teacher educators unparalleled opportunities to engage their PTs in authentic instructional activities—bounded tasks and participation structures with clear goals for both teacher and student learning (Lampert, Beasley, Ghousseini, Kazemi, & Franke, 2010)—while providing real-time feedback and debriefing on experiences. Central to these experiences are the opportunities to develop meaningful relationships with students and practicing teachers and learn from and with young people in the classroom.