Characterizing Mathematics Graduate Student Teaching Assistants’ Opportunities to Learn from Teaching

Authors

Yvonne Lai, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Wendy Smith, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Nathan Wakefield, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Erica R. Miller, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Julia St. Goar, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
Corbin M. Groothuis, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow
Kelsey M. Wells, University of Nebraska–LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2016

Citation

Published (as Chapter 6) in Jacqueline Dewar, Pao-sheng Hsu, & Harriet Pollatsek (eds.), Mathematics Education: A Spectrum of Work in Mathematical Sciences Departments, Association for Women in Mathematics Series 7, pp 73–88.

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-44950-0_6

Comments

Copyright © 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland. Used by permission.

Abstract

Exemplary models to inform novice instruction and the development of graduate teaching assistants (TAs) exist. What is missing from the literature is the process of how graduate students in model professional development programs make sense of and enact the experiences offered. A first step to understanding TAs’ learning to teach is to characterize how and whether they link observations of student work to hypotheses about student thinking and then connect those hypotheses to future teaching actions. A reason to be interested in these connections is that their strength and coherence determine how well TAs can learn from experiences. We found TAs can connect observations and future teaching, but that the connections vary in quality. Our analysis suggests future revisions to TA development programs, which we discuss in the conclusion.