Implementing Reform: The Changing Cultures and Discourse Practices of Four First -Grade Classrooms
The goal of this investigation was to create a detailed picture of the classroom norms and classroom discourse practices in traditional versus reform-oriented mathematics classrooms. Toward this goal, four first-grade teachers were followed one week in each of two years as they attempted to implement a reform-based mathematics curriculum, Math Trailblazers (1997), that supported increased interaction in the classroom. The first year of the investigation took place before teachers were using the new curriculum. The second year of the study followed those same teachers as they implemented Math Trailblazers. Qualitative data collected from classroom observations and teacher interviews were analyzed to understand what constituted doing mathematics in each classroom, each year and how that differed across the two years. To bring to life the complexities of different teaching and learning environments, multiple aspects of classroom life---teacher beliefs, classroom activities, norms, and discourse practices---were described and exemplified. The results of this investigation indicated that, through their interactions, each teacher and her students constructed norms and discourse practices that defined what it meant to do mathematics in traditional versus reform-oriented classrooms.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign