USING ROLE PLAY TO REHEARSE PROBLEMS OF PRACTICE

In this article, we share a professional development tool for use with mathematics coaches. We describe a protocol we created, inspired by research around Rehearsals in pre-service mathematics instruction, that supports coaches to practice addressing challenges they are likely to confront in their work. After introducing the research that has guided our thinking, we describe our Role Play Protocol and share data collected from coaches and administrators with whom we worked about the usefulness of this form of professional learning. We then outline modifications we have made and continue to make to the Role Play Protocol and discuss implications and future work needed to better understand how effective this tool is at supporting coaches’ learning and practice in the field.