Mark Coté, Issaquah, WA markcote@cpm.org
CPM’s Teacher Research Corps returned to an in-person TRC Institute this summer at the University of Utah, launching new practitioner investigations. Thanks to the efforts of 15 Teacher Researchers, 5 members of the TRC Leadership Team, and members of the CPM Professional Learning Team, the Institute resulted in the successful completion of the following key goals:
- Possible problems of practice brainstormed/reviewed/refined and temporary investigative cohorts formed.
- Temporary cohorts discussed/decided on a specific goal(s)/question(s) to investigate and wrote a first draft (not detailed) of a research proposal.
- Initial proposals were briefly shared with the entire cohort.
- Teacher Researchers made a final choice about a problem of practice.
- Final cohorts wrote a second, more detailed draft of the initial proposal.
- Teams developed brief presentations and shared them with the entire TRC cohort.
- Completed proposals were presented with feedback.
- Research investigations began in August.
We are excited that CPM has yet another opportunity to tap into the “wisdom of teachers” and offer new investigative findings that will influence pedagogy as well as contribute to the ongoing development of our curriculum materials. The TRC 9.0 Teacher Researchers and investigations are as follows:
Alexis Reid
Amanda Ethridge
Anna Dailey
Janine Scott
Jennifer Moriarty
How do non-traditional grading and assessment structures support students in developing positive mathematical identities, particularly those who have been disenfranchised by traditional mathematics instruction and assessments?
Ashley Sergi
Karen Kurcz
Kristen Griebel
Laura Bell
Simon Terrell
How do certain instructional and mathematical choices we make as teachers foster student engagement and mathematical thinking? Specifically, how can we support students to collaboratively take on challenging and wordy tasks, try out new strategies without the fear of failure, and become stronger mathematical thinkers?
Amanda Marx
Brooke Raven
Pam Propst
Tom Dagit
How can we as teachers implement systems and strategies that support all students in recognizing and appreciating their personal mathematical growth over time? It is our hope that providing these opportunities will help students realize they are capable of doing mathematics, will motivate or enable them to contribute in class, and will positively impact their learning.
Michelle Lo
How can I distribute authority to the students so that they expect to critique, question, and validate each other’s mathematical thinking during whole group and/or small group discussions? (This study is a further investigation.)
Teacher Researcher Janine Scott summarized the final day of the TRC Institute with this comment, “This morning’s work totally cemented the fact that our research will be a team collaboration with multiple offshoots/strategies, which is fine for me. I feel like we made great strides, and I am looking forward to working with my team and finding new ways to disrupt the traditional grading system. I think that this is what TRC is all about, being able to collaborate with teachers that want to make their classrooms better, recording data to measure outcomes, getting better in your classrooms with your students, and sharing your results with other teachers that may be interested.”
In parallel with past practice, all research teams launched their projects as school began. Data collection, participant reflections, and team meetings are underway. Teacher Researchers will soon be reporting updates on their investigations using the TRC blogspot www.imath.us, and several teams are looking forward to presenting at CPM’s Teacher Conference in February of 2023. The TRC Leadership Team is delighted to announce that applications for the TRC 9.0 Institute, which is scheduled for the summer of 2023, will be available in early spring. Watch https://cpm.org/trc for more information.