DEEPENING TEACHERS’ UNDERSTANDINGS OF MATHEMATICAL AND PEDAGOGICAL CONNECTEDNESS: THE WALK-ACROSS TASK

The study here exams ways in which mathematics professional development providers and teachers can examine new forms of mathematics standards to deepen understanding about the subtle differences from prior standards. Teachers engaged in a type of cross-walk activity which focused on making connections. Findings from the study revealed that teachers deepened their knowledge of the connectedness of mathematics and from this quality of mathematics emerged four important pedagogical changes for their teaching:  1. providing students time and opportunity to make their own mathematical connections; 2. providing students with worthwhile mathematics tasks to engage their intellect; 3. establishing a safe and respectful learning environment with an expectation of student sense making; and 4. becoming more adept facilitators of mathematical discourse. Through the Walk-Across discussions, the teachers became more open to their development of adaptiveness to students’ mathematical ideas and emergent teaching scenarios.