Facilitating collaborative inquiry into practice around artifacts of mathematics teaching

Although there has been increasing attention to the importance of teacher agency in professional development, there has been little attention to what it takes to facilitate collaborative work that both centers teachers’ assets and expertise and leads to productive learning. This paper presents a framework for focused and responsive facilitation of productive discourse around instructional practice in teacher learning communities. Drawing on a situative perspective, we trace the development of six novice teacher leaders as they were mentored to lead online collaborative lesson design groups focused on analyzing artifacts of K-8 mathematics instruction in a large urban district in the US. Our framework articulates how leaders facilitated the discussions in ways that both built on teacher knowledge, experiences, and contributions while also focusing on professional learning goals. Our analysis also shows how rich learning opportunities were co-constructed and sustained by the mentors, teacher leaders, and participants in each group over time. Through narrative descriptions of one group, we show how the teacher participants began to take on some of the facilitation practices themselves as they apprenticed into the practices of the community. This approach to professional learning positions teachers’ experience and knowledge as important assets while supporting them to try out and reflect on new classroom practices.