Mathematics Teachers as Instructional Designers: What Does It Take?

In this chapter, we draw on a 5-year interventionist professional development study that we conducted with a group of middle-school mathematics teachers in the United States. The fifth and final year of the study involved a performance assessment in which the teachers collectively designed an instructional unit on statistics that aimed both to build on what they learned in the professional development group and to address the objectives for middle-school statistics prescribed by the standards and objectives for mathematics in their states. This performance assessment provided a window into the teachers’ documentation work, especially on the resources they needed to engage in this type of design work effectively. We draw on this case to problematize the rhetoric of teachers as instructional designers. In doing so, we question the common assumption that groups of teachers are capable of designing coherent instructional sequences from provided materials immediately and without ongoing support. We illustrate that teachers becoming effective instructional designers and the associated professionalization of teaching are significant accomplishments.

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