Virginia Mathematics Teacher Fall 2016

achievement was the change in students’ strategic competence in math. Students learnt to think about situations in relative rather than absolute terms. For example, the students in a particular lesson study were asked to compare two situations of increase in numbers from 500 to 800 versus 300 to 600. Students thinking in absolute terms may answer that these situations have the same amount of increase, however, a relative multiplicative thinking helped the students to think proportionally to help them understand and justify the differences in the two situations. Reports were prepared each year that identified the major findings of the evaluation documenting evidence of increased knowledge and skills and improved classroom practice as a result of teachers’ participation in the project. A written evaluation was conducted at the end of the program year to determine how well the overall goals and objectives have been achieved. The summative evaluation measured the extent to which the project goals were met, the degree to which the participants gained the desired skills and knowledge, and the project’s effectiveness in improving classroom practice and student outcomes. We were fortunate to have support for doctoral students and lead specialists from the MSP award that allowed them to serve as knowledgeable others to sustain a collaborative coaching effort to continue to engage the teachers after the completion of the summer institute. Our results have revealed that the design of the PD and Lesson Study offered opportunities for teachers to become inspired by what their students were capable of doing. Despite encountering challenges as they transformed their teaching approach, the MSP program has greatly impacted the teachers to find ways to rethink their mathematics instructional and pedagogical practices in order to promote higher ordered thinking skills in their students. The successful completion of the summer PD followed by collaborative coaching & Lesson study also gave the opportunity for the 85 participating teachers to earn 3 credits of graduate coursework at George Mason University. Struggling through problem solutions with colleagues, analyzing their approaches, questioning their reasoning, understanding how to develop open tasks, comparing their work with others and, contributing to group efforts were noted by the teachers as being very beneficial to their discoveries in the Summer PD institute and the follow-up Lesson study. Impact and Outcomes:

References

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: NCTM. Lamon, S. J. (1999). Teaching fractions and ratios for understanding: Essential content knowledge and instructional strategies for teachers. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc. Lamon, S. J. (2007). Rational numbers and proportional reasoning: Toward a theoretical framework for research. In F. K. Lester, Jr. (Ed.), Second handbook of research on mathematics teaching and learning. (pp. 629-668). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Suh, J. & Seshaiyer, P. (2014a). Developing Strategic Competence by Teaching Using the Common Core Mathematical Practices, Annual Perspectives in Math Education , Chapter 8, pp 77-87. Suh, J. & Seshaiyer, P. (2014b). Examining teachers’ understanding of the mathematical learning progression through vertical articulation during Lesson Study, Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, pp: 1-23. Suh, J. & Seshaiyer, P. (2014c). Mapping teachers’ understanding of the mathematical learning progression through vertical articulation during Lesson Study. American Educational Research Association Online Repository , Philadelphia, PA. Suh, J.M., Seshaiyer. P., Freeman, P. & Jamieson, T.S. (2011). Developing teachers’ representational fluency and algebraic connections. In Wiest, L. R., & Lamberg, T. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education . 738-746. Suh, J. & Seshaiyer, P. (2014b). Examining teachers’ understanding of the mathematical learning progression through vertical articulation during Lesson Study, Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education , pp: 1-23 (2014). Suh, J. & Seshaiyer, P. (2013). Mathematical Practices That Promote 21st Century Skills, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School , NCTM, 19(3), pp 132 - 137.

Virginia Mathematics Teacher vol. 43, no. 1

31