Why should I join the Teacher Research Corps? Every year, we ask Teacher Researchers why they decided to join the Teacher Research Corps. Many teachers come back year after year. We will let Teacher Researchers tell you, in their own words, why the Teacher Research Corps is worth your time.
Collaborating and Sharing with Like-Minded Educators
“I have continued to participate in TRC year after year because of the way we collaborate and share perspectives with—and learn from—like-minded colleagues who want to do the hard work that it takes to make CPM work in their schools and classrooms.”
“TRC has been the biggest game-changer for me as a math educator. Being able to collaborate with educators/leaders from around the country has kept me motivated to stay in the classroom and work to help middle schoolers find enjoyment in learning mathematics and the challenges it presents. It’s always so great to share classroom stories and get ideas from like-minded people who want to improve math education.”
Professional Learning with a Big Impact on Classroom Teaching
“I originally joined because I loved CPM materials and philosophy and wanted to learn more about the strategies I had been using and think of ways to make them better and more applicable in my classroom. I am here again because the last two years have been some of the best professional development and improvement I have experienced.”
“TRC has had a huge impact on my teaching because I don’t think I would have tried some of these strategies without it. Instead of not trying something because I thought it would be difficult to implement or not go over well, I use that now as a learning opportunity to make it better.”
Benefits Teachers and Students
“I think it’s easy for teachers’ growth to plateau at a certain point, and this pushes me to continually improve. Most of all I am here because this has had such a positive impact on students. They have grown as readers, writers, and reflective thinkers through my two years of research, and I want to continue to provide these opportunities to them.”
“This is my 7th year of TRC, and I love that each year my classroom and students benefit from the work I get to do with TRC. I appreciate the opportunity to work through ideas with teachers from across the country and value the perspective of the leadership team greatly. Thank you for the continued dedication to this program and keeping us moving forward.”
Encouragement Where and When You Need It
“TRC helps us change and move off ‘auto-pilot’ with our teaching. It re-energizes us to push ourselves to change.”
“As I end another year, it’s important to me to use the downtime offered in the summer to reflect upon my practice and see what worked and what didn’t. I am also looking for inspiration and excitement. This has been a very hard year and the mindset of TRC is very encouraging and inspiring.”
What Does It Look Like to Participate in the Teacher Research Corps?
Your participation with the Teacher Research Corp begins with an in-person summer institute, which CPM covers your cost to attend. There, you and your team discuss how to grow in your teaching practices, formulate shared problems of practice (i.e. shared challenges across teachers’ contexts and classrooms), and draft a proposal for your project.
During the school year, each team engages in mini-cycles of inquiry, meeting twice monthly (virtually) for their project. One of these meetings occurs with the program’s leadership team. All participants meet in person again in February at CPM’s Annual Teacher Conference, with travel and rooming costs covered by CPM, for a midyear workshop to share progress and receive additional professional learning.
At the end of each academic year, each team collaboratively creates a findings report that will be uploaded to cpm.org/trc as a resource for other mathematics educators. Teachers will also be encouraged and supported to submit their work to peer-reviewed practitioner journals, although this is not required.
Prospective teacher researchers may find this Google site useful for learning more about the Teacher Research Corps. The links on the subpages labeled “Institute” and “Teams” direct to a private Google Drive and so will not be available, but the website contains powerful testimonials in addition to other information.
Meet and Discuss with Teacher Researchers at CPM’s Annual Teacher Conference!
CPM’s Teacher Researchers are presenting their projects at the 2024 CPM Conference this February! All Teacher Researchers are sharing their in-progress findings during the poster session and some are leading sessions. If you are attending the conference, please stop by! If you aren’t attending the conference, here is a quick overview of the topics being studied in the Teacher Research Corps this year.
| Teacher Researchers | Project Questions |
|---|---|
| Anna Dailey | Aesthetics/Art in Geometry 1. How can teachers make space for students to cultivate their own aesthetic appreciation for math outside of (and perhaps in addition to) that of research mathematicians? 2. How does making space for students to broaden their aesthetic appreciation of math impact motivation, especially for students who have been underserved by traditional mathematics instruction? 3. How do mathematics texts and other instructional materials influence the aesthetic experiences emphasized in the classroom? 4. How does expanding students’ aesthetic experiences in mathematics impact their view of what mathematics is? |
| Alexis Reid, Amanda Ethridge, Andie Peterson, and Karen Kurcz | Connections and Retention How can we help students capture their learning during the unit progression using a variety of note-taking strategies, Closure routines, and practice opportunities to build student skill transference, personal connections, and knowledge retention? |
| Laura Bell, Brooke Nixon, Janine Scott, and Carrie Velasco | Asset-Based Collaborative Assessments How can we approach assessment in a way that is: 1. asset-based; 2. aligned with collaborative classroom practices; and 3. focused on understanding over time? |
| Dawn Bechthold, Matt Rector, and Joe Sebastian | Math Confidence and Attitudes 1. How can regularly scheduled innovation(s), focused on diversifying and expanding student attitudes and beliefs about math, help students have positive “mathitudes”? 2. How would intentional efforts to elevate the math status of students impact their math confidence and engagement within their teams during class? 3. How does redefining what counts as a mathematical contribution impact students’ confidence? |
| Tom Dagit, Amanda Kadulski, Brooke Raven, and Seni Weber | Student Access and Ownership How can we: 1. foster student ownership in their learning by creating student access points to mathematical content and group discussions; and 2. create and foster collaborative learning groups that enable students to develop problem-solving and critical-thinking skills? |
Ready to Find Out How to Become a Teacher Researcher?
Applications for the 2024–25 school year will be accepted January–March 2024. Apply now or learn more by contacting the Teacher Research Corps Program Manager, Mark Coté.
(CPM’s Teacher Researchers earn an annual stipend to support the extra work that they do during the school year. Their travel and lodging to the Teacher Research Corps Institute are covered by CPM.)
