Tracing teacher learning through shifts in discourses: The case of a mathematics teacher

Abstract

This study presents a methodology for investigating teacher learning in and from practice based on discourses that are in constant flux and transformation. Conceptualizing teacher learning as a frame of meaning based on knowing and doing discourses, the ideas are illustrated through data collected from a secondary mathematics teacher conducting an inquiry of self-practice. Narrative analysis of the data from the teacher interviews was conducted along with classroom observations of the teacher's mathematical practice. The data supported that tracing shifts in teacher discourses enables to understand the connection between the teacher's past discourses and the present discourses when identifying teacher learning. It is concluded that tracking teacher learning through two complementary discourses of the teacher's instructional practice enabled a unification of individual and collective levels of the teacher learning by self-inquiry of own practice. Moreover, through the continuum of discourses, this study provided insights about the generation of new meanings through transformation of old meanings in the teacher learning.