Using Teacher Portfolios to Enrich the Methods Course Experiences of Prospective Mathematics Teachers

Since teacher preparation programs vary in their scheduling of coursework and field experiences, the implications of this study need to be interpreted accordingly. First, in cases where the schedule of field experience and methods courses is congruent with the program investigated in this paper (i.e., concurrent student teaching and methods course), this research indicated that the teaching portfolio can be used to foster stronger connections between theory and practice. This capability of the portfolio relied upon the ways the student teachers were able to represent their practices in the portfolio. Although adding a new dimension to the pedagogy of mathematics teacher education-learning how to represent practice-the importance of supporting connections between theory and practice in promoting teacher growth indicates that this finding deserves attention in the coursework of mathematics teacher preparation programs (Borko et al., 2000; Fieman-Nemser, 2001 ; Grossman, Valencia, Evans, Thompson, Martin & Place, 2000).

In the second case, when methods courses are not concurrent with student teaching, the findings of this research indicate a way to pursue a solution to another problem in the preparation of mathematics teachers. The supervision of student teachers in field experiences has been characterized as a weak intervention that has little impact on the development of effective teaching practice (Borko & Mayfield, 1995; Frykholm, 1999). The ways that teaching portfolios were used in this study could be adapted for use in field experiences that involve student teaching, portfolio development, and peer dialogue about both the portfolio and the problems of mathematics teaching.

For example, Stephens (2003) reported that the ratio of teaching practice to the study of one's practice during initial preparation is currently high in the United States in comparison with other countries (e.g., Japan). The results from this research indicate that the use of the teaching portfolio in conjunction with field experiences (short or long term) is a model that requires further research in the United States. For example, since the teaching portfolio affords ongoing reflection on prior experiences, prospective teachers might benefit from developing their professional portfolio across a series of unit-length field experiences, preceded and followed by time for planning, re flection, and portfolio development.

The import of this research agenda is warranted by the relatively widespread commitment to the use of professional portfolios in the teaching profession in the United States (Darling-Hammond et al., 1999; Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium, 1995; National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 1990). This research should inquire into the benefits of field experiences combined with the development of teaching portfolios that contain presentations of prospective teachers' studies of their own practices. A systematic program of research should lead toward a comparative study ofboth (a) the impact of short-term vs. long-term field experiences and (b) whether or not the teaching portfolio supports prospective teachers' ability to make connections between their own beliefs and conceptual frameworks describing effective practices of mathematics teaching.