Chapter 2: “They See Us Together”: Collaborative Activity in a Math Middle School Classroom

Given the necessity for collaboration as a means to increase teacher learning for favorable student outcomes, it is crucial to explore how content and English as a second language (ESL) teachers collaborate to meet the needs of English learners (ELs) in the secondary classroom (Dove & Honigsfeld, 2018; Giles, & Yazan, 2019). Departmental structures in secondary schools can further lead to the ESL teacher’s relegated role as an assistant rather than a subject-specific teacher (Arkoudis, 2003; Pawan & Craig, 2011). Different schedules and inconsistent administrative support can also make collaboration challenging (Dove & Honigsfeld, 2018; Giles, 2018; Giles & Yazan, 2019; Peercy, Ditter, & DeStefano, 2016). As such, by using Engestrom’s (2001) cultural historical activity theory (CHAT), this study posed the following question: “How does an ESL teacher engage in collaborative activity with a math teacher to co-plan and co-teach lessons in a seventh grade math classroom in a suburban middle school in the southeastern United States?”