Building a Theory of Teacher Learning, Together

Abstract

This session addresses two major problems that hold back research on teacher learning. First, research often tests efficacy of professional learning interventions without illuminating how teachers learn within the intervention. Second, as a field, we have not reached consensus on how to document teacher learning, making it hard to share results in robust ways. For instance, researchers rarely view and discuss video from each other’s professional learning interventions, making it difficult to build shared ideas about concepts like “noticing student thinking” or about specific experiences that build teacher learning. To address these issues, this session will present professional learning video from four research projects focused on teachers’ learning to improve mathematics instruction. Video will be linked to a tentative conceptual framework of teacher learning that will be critiqued by the audience, discussant, and presenters, in order to expand it, identify gaps, and provide a shared framework for future research.