CITE 2018 March is a special issue focused on video-enhanced experiences in teacher education and professional development edited by guest editors: Simon Flandin, Valérie Lussi Borer, & Cyrille Gaudin. This issue features two mathematics education articles:
Novice Teachers’ Use of Student Thinking and Learning as Evidence of Teaching Effectiveness: A Longitudinal Study of Video-Enhanced Teacher Preparation
by Rossella Santagata, University of California Irvine; & Karen Taylor, University of California Irvine
Abstract: This study examines whether preservice teachers’ experiences with video analyses during teacher preparation have long-lasting effects on their practices once they enter the profession. Specifically, the authors examined whether teachers who had opportunities to analyze student thinking and learning during teacher preparation continued to do so when they reflected on their teaching effectiveness as full-time teachers. A group of elementary school teachers who attended a video-enhanced mathematics methods course were compared to a control group at the end of their first year of full-time teaching. Teachers were asked to assess two lessons they had just taught by describing lesson learning goals and providing a rating of lesson effectiveness and a rationale for their evaluation. Teachers who attended the video-enhanced course during teacher preparation outperformed their counterparts in both the quality of evidence they drew upon and their attention to individual or subgroups of learners. Study limitations and future directions are discussed.
Video in the Middle: Purposeful Design of Video-Based Mathematics Professional Development
by Nanette Seago, WestEd; Karen Koellner, Hunter College, City University of New York; & Jennifer Jacobs, University of Colorado, Boulder
Abstract: In this article the authors described their exploration of a particular design element they labeled “video in the middle.” As part of the video in the middle design, the viewing of carefully selected video clips from teachers’ classrooms is sandwiched between pre- and postviewing activities that are expected to support teachers’ engagement in and learning from the video. These three elements (prevideo, video, and postvideo), taken together, comprise a videocase. Videocases can then be further sequenced to create a specified professional development (PD) curriculum. Purposeful selection of each video clip allows for coherence between the prevideo, video viewing, and postvideo activities, which in turn, supports the link between a given videocase and identified teacher learning goals. Incorporating a video in the middle design within a video-based mathematics PD environment can promote a detailed and focused examination of complex mathematical content, the relationship between pedagogical decisions and practices, and an unpacking of students’ mathematical thinking. It is essential to underscore the major role that facilitators play in video-based PD, and that the effective application of the video in the middle design is, in large part, dependent on skillful facilitation. The video in the middle design can be useful across different content areas and teacher education settings.