Equitable Teaching Practices in Math

Presenters seek feedback on an observational instrument designed to identify preservice teachers’ abilities to identify equitable teaching practices.

Date/Time
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2014 Session Types
Feedback Session (Work in Development)

The original version of the Mathematical Quality and Equity (MQE) video codes (Goffney, 2010; LMT, 2010) were developed as a section of the Mathematical Quality and Instruction observational instrument developed by the Learning Mathematics for Teaching Project at the University of Michigan.

Over two years, the project has conducted literature reviews, consulted with experts, and studied videos of teaching to refine and repurpose the original MQE codes for use with pre-service teachers. Common themes of equitable teaching emerged, such as sensitive use of real-world contexts, positioning of learners in the classroom, explicitness, and elements of complex instruction.

Additionally, central themes of equitable teaching emerged, including teacher expectations, context and rigor of tasks, mathematics practices and attention to developing mathematical language, issues of access, participation structures, and group work. Each of these requires mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) and cultural knowledge for working with diverse learners. A version of the repurposed MQE tool was piloted in the fall of 2012. The Learning Mathematics for Teaching project also conducted focus group and cognitive interviews, which informed how pre-service teachers interpreted the codes. The final version of the tool was generated in the fall of 2013.

This session includes an overview of the emerging framework for Mathematical Knowledge for Equitable Teaching. Participants have opportunities to use the MQE tool to code video clips of teaching.