Election 2021: AnnaMarie Conner

Participation in AMTE and/or AMTE Affiliates(s)

I first participated in AMTE through the Georgia affiliate (GAMTE) conference in 2008. The next year, I attended my first AMTE annual conference. Over the years, I found many friends who are passionate about mathematics teacher education and who challenge me to learn and grow. I was honored to receive the AMTE Excellence in Scholarship award in 2020. My involvement with AMTE has revolved around the annual conference, beginning with reviewing proposals, continuing with service on the program committee (2016-2019), and culminating as AVP for Conference program (2019-2020) and past program chair (2020-2021). Serving on the program committee and in program leadership has given me insights into the AMTE conference, relationships between committees and stakeholders, and the kinds of sessions AMTE members propose and attend at the conference. This has given me a window into the kinds of work AMTE members do, where they see their work going in the future, and what their needs might be. I have learned to listen and to focus on incremental changes. In 2016 and 2017, I was part of the program committee when we changed the configuration of strands to better reflect the work our members were doing and submitting. We also changed the submission guidelines to better reflect AMTE’s focus on both research and practice. In 2019-2020, I worked with Rick Hudson and others on the program committee to revise the review criteria in order to improve the usefulness of reviews. Through these experiences, I learned to work well with AMTE members from a variety of institutions and with diverse goals, priorities, and opinions.

Participation in Related Organizations

I have regularly presented at and reviewed for several professional organizations and conferences related to my work in mathematics teacher education. Additionally, together with several colleagues, I have organized an ongoing Working Group at the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME-NA) annual conference since 2016, which, in addition to our work at the conference, has resulted in a co-edited book to be published this year. Additional groups and conferences with which I have been involved include the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (ERME), the International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME), the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (IGPME), the Mathematical Association of America’s special interest group on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME), and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). My involvement with multiple national and international conferences and groups reflects my belief that mathematics teacher education is a complex and collaborative international endeavor that can be informed and improved by interactions with scholars worldwide.

Qualifications for the Position

I am passionate about and respect mathematics teacher education as a dynamic and evolving field. My research, teaching, and service live within mathematics teacher education, and I am committed to AMTE’s mission of improving mathematics teacher education at all levels. My research has examined teachers’ beliefs and developing professional identities and their support for mathematical argumentation, which informs my teaching of methods and content courses as well as my interactions with teachers and prospective teachers. 

I have had several opportunities to lead through service during my time in academia. Perhaps most relevant to serving as AMTE’s president is my time as coordinator of the UGA Mathematics Education program (2014-2019). In this role, I served the needs of mathematics educators (14 faculty at that time) and students at the elementary, middle, and secondary levels and in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs. This opportunity allowed me to develop and enhance skills of listening to others, envisioning growth and change, and encouraging colleagues while meeting deadlines and making sound decisions. I have experience setting agendas and leading meetings in which we accomplish tasks in addition to sharing information. In facilitating group progress, I listen carefully to others and share ideas within collaborative decision making.

I developed expertise with understanding and revising policies and procedures that impact many people from different constituencies in my subsequent experiences as an elected representative on UGA’s Graduate Council (2019-2021), chair of the Graduate Council Policy and Procedures committee at UGA (2020-2021), and member of the Graduate Council Executive Committee (2020-2021). Listening to many diverse needs and opinions and finding ways to increase graduate students’ voice and representation in setting and revising policy were rewarding parts of these experiences. The skills I developed in these roles will be useful in ensuring that AMTE’s constitution, bylaws, and policies serve the membership well. 

Three Goals AMTE should make a Priority

The leadership and membership of AMTE recently engaged in a lengthy process of strategic planning, culminating in four long-term goals accompanied by sets of shorter-term action items, which supplement the six goals of AMTE available on the website. Continuing this work of longer-term visioning and strategic planning is important as AMTE grows. I offer the following three goals as priorities that are consistent with and operate within AMTE’s mission and goals.

• Promote research and other scholarly endeavors related to mathematics teacher education to increase our shared knowledge base related to effective and equitable practices in mathematics education;

• Advocate for equitable and effective policies and practices related to mathematics teacher education at all levels; and

• Engage mathematics teacher educators in understanding how issues of social and racial justice undergird our work, especially as we seek to diversify the mathematics teacher and mathematics teacher educator pipeline.

AMTE has a long-standing tradition of endeavoring to improve mathematics teacher education and support mathematics teacher educators. Whether a member identifies primarily as a researcher or a teacher educator, their practice can be strengthened and improved by knowledge of new and cutting-edge research on mathematics teacher education. AMTE promotes research and other scholarly endeavors through the annual conference, but the AMTE community can capitalize on other opportunities to promote research and scholarship. For instance, providing opportunities for mentoring, collaboration, and communication through the recently-created Community Circles is supportive of research and scholarship by bringing together AMTE members with similar interests and experiences who may both share knowledge and collaborate in future research. This also potentially strengthens mathematics teacher educators’ research and research-based practices and provides a venue for developing and deepening our understandings of issues of social and racial justice that undergird our work. Recruiting and retaining a diverse group of mathematics teacher educators requires continually seeking deeper understanding of issues of race and justice and acting upon that understanding in policy and practice.

By seeking out and amplifying voices not typically heard in mathematics education discourses as well as listening to and enacting ideas generated by mathematics education scholars with a broad range of experiences and interests, I will work towards making the AMTE community a place where all people feel welcome and valued. In this way, we as a community can more authentically advocate for equitable and effective policies and practices related to mathematics teacher education. While we often engage in separate discussions about effective practices and equitable teaching, I do not think we can separate effective practices from equitable practices in mathematics teacher education. Practice that is not equitable cannot be deemed effective; effective teaching practices must consider equity as a central tenet. 

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