7: Developing Teachers’ Abilities to Facilitate Meaningful Classroom Discourse Through Cases: The Case of Accountable Talk¹

Facilitating mathematical discussions in which students engage in high-level thinking and reasoning about mathematics is a critical, yet daunting task for teachers. Using accountable talk is one way in which teachers can support students’ learning of mathematics in discourse-oriented classrooms. In this chapter, we describe the use of The Case of Edith Hart in a teacher education course, and consider how teachers’ participation in a set of activities centered on the case - specifically, a mathematical discussion in which teachers were held accountable, and reading and discussing a case in which the students were held accountable -provided opportunities to identify aspects of accountable talk. In particular, we draw upon evidence from the case discussion to illustrate the ways in which teachers identified accountable talk moves made by the case teacher, linked these moves to students’ learning, and moved from the particulars of the case to developing generalizations about facilitating effective classroom discussions. We conclude with an analysis of the key role the case facilitator played in supporting teachers’ learning and offer some suggestions for teacher educators who are facilitating teachers’ work with cases.