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

Conclusion

The case study presented in this paper illustrates how the use of teacher portfolios can provide enriched learning opportunities for both prospective teachers and their instructors during methods courses for prospective mathematics teachers. This enrichment results from the ways the portfolio can be used to engage in formative assessment practices that inform the mentoring of student teachers. The case illustrates how the assessment of teacher portfolios can help a teacher educator gain awareness of prospective teachers' beliefs about teaching mathematics and respond pedagogically during a teaching methods course.

The elements of a portfolio feedback process were described that can inform mentoring and instructional practices in teacher preparation programs. The implications of this feedback process are shown to be relevant to goals for teacher professional development identified in the research literature.

First, in this study the use of the teaching portfolio emphasized the study of students' mathematical problem solving as a beneficial professional practice. second, the teaching portfolio was used to help prospective teachers make connections between their own beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics and the achievement of the students in their field experience classrooms. In pursuing both of these goals the role of the portfolio as a medium for sharing practice was paramount. The teaching portfolio, therefore, enriched learning by enabling targeted pedagogical interventions that responded to particular teachers' portfolio artifacts, while enhancing explorations of and dialogue about the problems of teaching mathematics. The paper concludes by relating these findings to the design of preparation programs and by identifying future directions for research.

References

Andersen, H. O. (2000). Emerging certifications and teacher preparation. School Science and Mathematics 100(6), 298-303.

Borko, H., & Mayfield, V. ( 1995). The roles of the cooperating teacher and university supervisor and learning to teach. Teaching and Teacher Education, 77(5), 501-518.

Borko, H., Michalec, P., Timmons, M., & Siddle, J. (1997). Student teaching portfolios: a tool for promoting reflective practice. Journal of Teacher Education, 48(5), 345-357.

Borko, H., Peressini, D., Romagnano, L., Knuth, E., Willis-Yorker, C., Wooley, C., Hovermill, J., & Masarik, K. (2000). Teacher education does matter: A situative view of learning to teach secondary mathematics. Educational Psychologist, 35(3), 193-206.

Carney, J. M. (2001). Electric and traditional paper portfolios as tools for teacher knowledge representation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University Of Washington, Seattle, WA.

Cooney, T. J., Shealy, B. E., & Arvold, B. (1998). Conceptualizing belief structures of preservice secondary mathematics teachers. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 29(3), 306-333.

Darling-Hammond, L., Wise, A. E., & Klein, S. P. (1999). A license to teach: Raising standards for teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.