Abstract
The VIDEO-LM project (Viewing, Investigating and Discussing Environments of Learning Mathematics) is aimed at enhancing mathematics teachers’ reflection on their professional practice, through watching and discussing videotaped lessons of unknown teachers. The discussions are guided by the use of an analytic framework, comprised of six detailed “viewing lenses.” In this article, we first provide a brief historical context of practicing teacher education, followed by the description of the framework we developed. We then present selected data from 17 implementation sites that illustrate the impact of VIDEO-LM courses on the professional growth of participants. Findings show that using the six-lens framework in video-based peer conversations supports the development of a reflective language, with which mathematics teachers engage in deep discussions about core issues of their profession.
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Notes
In Israel, teachers can choose from a variety of professional development courses offered in their local RTC for a nominal fee and accrue credit points for promotion; however, enrollment is not obligatory.
In several cases, participants did not give their consent to videotape the sessions. This happened for instance in courses where there was a majority of ultra-orthodox Jewish female teachers, but also in a few other sites. In addition, for technical reasons we were not always able to send a video camera to the site; therefore, the facilitator only audiotaped sessions. Field notes as a single means of documentation was used only as a last option (in 4 sites out of 17).
The decision whether to request teachers to submit reflection assignments or feedback questionnaires was entirely up to the facilitator in each site.
See “Appendix” for details on the different sites.
This reflection was recorded in the opening session of another related course.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Trump Foundation (a local Israeli philanthropic foundation supporting exclusively science and mathematics education at the secondary level), Grant#7/143, and by the Weizmann Institute of Science.
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Karsenty, R., Arcavi, A. Mathematics, lenses and videotapes: a framework and a language for developing reflective practices of teaching. J Math Teacher Educ 20, 433–455 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-017-9379-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-017-9379-x