FROM TOOLS TO RESOURCES IN THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICS TEACHERS: General Perspectives and Crosscutting Issues

Abstract

A range of tools and their processes of use were described and analyzed in depth in Tools and Processes in Mathematics Teacher Education (Tirosh and Wood, 2008). This included: cases and narratives (e.g., via video recordings or stories); examples, tasks, lesson plans, manipulatives and machines; and frameworks and theories. Much has evolved on these tools and processes in the decade that elapsed since then, alongside new trends and approaches. This chapter focuses on promising avenues of these new trends, by extending the notion of tools and subsuming it into the idea of resources. The resources presented and discussed are: (a) teacher communities; (b) leaders/mentors/facilitators; (c) students; and (d) technologies. The first two resources are relatively new and the last two have evolved in ways which merit a revisitation. I close with some general conclusions and recommendations.