Chapter 14: Professional Development as a Catalyst for Classroom Change

The story I¹ am about to tell began at a high school mathematics department meeting in the fall of my 13th year of teaching. Our school had agreed to participate in a National Science Foundation grant called Renewing Mathematics Teaching through Curriculum (RMTC). RMTC’s goal was to assist teachers in implementing mathematics programs based on the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards (NCTM, 1989, 1991, 1995, 2000). Our district had already adopted Connected Mathematics Project and Core-Plus Mathematics Project (CPMP) curriculum materials and was interested in the professional development assistance provided by RMTC. To participate in RMTC, our district needed a representative for the RMTC Collaborative Council. Since no one volunteered, I offered to represent our school. Little did I know how that decision would drastically affect my classroom teaching! This chapter tells how investigating my teaching over a four-year time frame has molded my thinking and consequently my actions as a classroom teacher.