It's about time: The effects of using summer school/inter-session as a setting for professional development for high school mathematics teachers.

摘要

Teachers often lack time to engage in the kinds of professional development that research finds to be most effective. This study explored the impact of using summer school/inter-session as a setting for connecting professional development with actual classroom teaching. In such a setting the teachers were not bound to the routines and constraints of a traditional semester. Thus, they had the time to plan activities and engage in thoughtful inquiry of their practice around their deepening knowledge of student thinking.;Such an approach to professional development helped teachers construct their own learning through practical experiences. As a result, the teachers were able to collaborate daily to design lessons which fostered student engagement in conceptual under standing of mathematics. This collaboration then became a source of transformative and generative learning for the teachers. And by focusing on where students' understanding intersected with misconceptions, the teachers were able to find success in their teaching as well as provide successful experiences for their students.