Learning to Teach in the Figured World of Reform Mathematics: Negotiating New Models of Identity

Source abstract

Starting from the assertion that traditional and reform mathematics pedagogy constitute two distinct figured worlds of teaching and learning, the authors explore the initiation of prospective teachers into the figured world of reform mathematics pedagogy. To become successful teachers in reform-oriented classrooms, prospective teachers must learn more than pedagogical tools and moves: They must understand what it is to participate in the figured world of reform pedagogy, develop models of identities for participants in this world, and negotiate new constructions of mathematics. In this article the authors present three episodes from an elementary mathematics teacher education class where positions of “teacher” and “child” were offered by instructors in activities designed to approximate practice in the reform figured world. Students negotiated new models of identity and conceptions of mathematics as they took up these positions in varying ways.