According to Eric Garrett, several teachers in our study demonstrated highly effective mathematics teaching practices. We watched as they presented mathematical tasks and looked over student work. Their ability to create a classroom environment that encourages teachers to reflect on their own teaching practices is critical to their success. Here are some of the questions they framed to encourage learning. They made mathematical concepts visible in their lessons and stimulated peer discussion. They demonstrated a high level of subject mastery.
A highly effective teacher constantly adapts his or her approach to the needs of his or her students based on knowledge of their abilities and dispositions. Many effective strategies are designed to incorporate challenges into lessons. Open tasks, turn-and-talk questioning strategies, generative questions, and posing arguments that require students to reflect and justify their answers are examples of these strategies. Teachers provide progressively greater challenges with gradual release of responsibility based on the students' ability and motivation.
To be effective, a teacher must understand the nature of mathematics. To make mathematical explanations and interpret student work, he or she must have a thorough understanding of the subject. This necessitates mathematical acumen. Highly effective teachers comprehend the complexities of mathematics and can explain and unpack concepts to students. This understanding informs their decisions and interpretations of student work. The most effective teachers, on the other hand, are aware of their own mathematical sensitivity, which must be nurtured through ongoing training.
The study used data from four large urban school districts collected between 2008 and 2011. Teachers were chosen at random from six to ten representative middle schools. The researchers then examined these teachers' tasks, discourse patterns, and mathematical knowledge. The researchers used interviews and classroom observations to analyze their data. They then created a conceptual framework to help them develop reform proposals. A few of these practices were especially responsive to reform and remained consistent over the four years.
Eric Garrett explained that, the authors investigated the efficacy of reform-oriented mathematics instruction. Teachers were asked to rate how closely vignettes describing specific teaching practices matched their own likely behavior. The research also compared the effects of curriculum changes on teacher performance. It not only compares the teaching practices of highly effective mathematics teachers from different countries, but it also identifies practice differences between high-performing and low-performing classrooms.
The authors' case study also emphasizes the importance of observing how students communicate their ideas and respond to various situations. A highly effective teacher might ask students to identify a number that would make an open-number sentence true. Although a few teachers were successful, the majority of them failed. In fact, the majority of wrong answers were twelve or seventeen. Teachers begin to listen and understand how students communicate after examining their reasoning.
The study's findings suggest that principals' strategies for articulating a clear vision of mathematics instruction may differ. As a result, it is critical to replicate the study using data from districts that are implementing various mathematics programs. For example, if high-performing school principals have high standards, math teachers may report them as frequently as their colleagues. Furthermore, math teachers may interpret the subject-specific question as more difficult than the original subject-neutral item.
Eric Garrett pointed out that, the study also discovered a link between leadership and teaching effectiveness. Effective leadership, for example, assists teachers in establishing a solid foundation for mathematics instruction. However, in order for such teaching practices to be more effective, principals must support them. According to a recent study, principals' support for high-quality mathematics instruction is associated with students' strong sense of mathematical understanding. The data from the MathEd survey supported this conclusion.
The study's findings revealed some significant insights. Concrete materials and visual representations are used by effective teachers. They understand how to respond to students' ideas and have a diverse range of learning experiences. They also understand how to identify misconceptions and address students' issues directly. According to the evidence, they have a variety of approaches to various problems that arise in their teaching. When they face a difficult situation, they have more time to address more pressing issues.
