Math Teachers and Social Media:Professional Collaboration or Support Group?

Raymond Johnson

University of Colorado BoulderFreudenthal Institute US

raymond.johnson@colorado.edu

http://mathed.net

April 11, 2014

About Me

Academic cred:

PhD candidate in Curriculum & Instruction, Mathematics Education

Current research focus involves helping Algebra 1 teachers makeproductive curriculum adaptations

Internet cred:

Internet content creator since 1996

Blogger since 2001

Created MathEd.net and @MathEdnet in 2009, coinciding withstarting grad school

Why?

After teaching in rural Colorado for 6 years, I craved knowledge andcollaboration.

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Outline

1 Framing the IssuesThe Social WebThe Makings of a Profession

2 Perspectives of Teaching and the Social Web

3 Challenges and NCTM’s Role

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Many-to-many

Source: http://www.ted.com/talks/clay shirky how cellphones twitter facebook can make history

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Eleanor Roosevelt Theory of Social Media Use

“Great minds discuss ideas;average minds discuss events;small minds discuss people.”

People ⇐⇒ FacebookEvents ⇐⇒ TwitterIdeas ⇐⇒ Blogs/Google+

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Axe Grind #1: Choose your tools carefully.

Every tool has affordances and constraints!

Twitter is far better at transcending geographic constraints thantemporal constraints. Ideas on Twitter have short half-lives.

Source: https://twitter.com/absvalteaching/status/425432906975420416

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Source: https://twitter.com/absvalteaching/status/425432991561949184

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Source: https://twitter.com/absvalteaching/status/425433026278195200

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So many tools, but so many teachers!

236,000 + 1.7 million

Sources: http://www.edreform.com/2012/04/k-12-facts/ and http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c1/c1s3.htm

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What makes something a profession?

Discuss with those around you:

Is teaching a profession?

Why or why not? What criteria should we consider in our argument?

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Shulman’s “attributes” of a profession

the obligations of service to others, as in a “calling”;

understanding of a scholarly or theoretical kind;

a domain of skilled performance or practice;

the exercise of judgment under conditions of unavoidable uncertainty;

the need for learning from experience as theory and practice interact;and

a professional community to monitor quality and aggregate knowledge

(Shulman, 1998, p. 516)

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Attribute #1

Professions are characterized by:

the obligations of service to others, as in a “calling”

Teachers’ perception? Positive

Public perception? Positive

Social media potential? Positive

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Source: http://mathequality.wordpress.com/2014/03/29/is-it-worth-being-a-teacher/

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Attribute #2

Professions are characterized by:

understanding of a scholarly or theoretical kind

Teachers’ perception? Mildly Positive

Public perception? Unfavorable

Social media potential? Positive

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Axe Grind #2: Open Access or Else.

Set your work free!

Teachers love to share freely, yet much of the scholarly knowledge aroundteaching is not free to share.

Source: https://twitter.com/approx normal/status/369250005678166016

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Source: https://twitter.com/ottensam/status/298883288020447233

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(Arbaugh et al., 2010)

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(Heck et al., 2012)

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Source: https://twitter.com/davidwees/status/452108892429115392

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Attribute #3

Professions are characterized by:

a domain of skilled performance or practice

Teachers’ perception? Typically Positive

Public perception? Mixed to Unfavorable

Social media potential? Optimistic

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Axe Grind #3: We talkin’ about practice.

Forget “teaching comes naturally” and “born to teach.”

Just as we want students to focus on effort instead of perceived notions of“natural” ability, teachers should, too. We shouldn’t be teaching likewe’d do amateur night at the improv theater.

What’s wrong with this?

Slide from Nicole Garcia’s TeachingWorkspresentation 2014-04-10 at NCTM.

1 Undermines the idea thatteaching is a profession that canbe developed through carefulunpacking of the practice and acommon technical language

2 Perpetuates the belief thatteaching is individual and tacit

3 Reinforces the predominance of“style” over skill

If teaching is individual and must be figured out by each person on thejob, then there is little hope of ensuring that all young people receiveskillful instruction.

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Unveiling the hidden work of teaching

Conferences

Lesson planning

Curriculum design

Summer workshops

Professional development

Reading

Collboration

Grading

Reflections

Policy positions

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Attribute #4

Professions are characterized by:

the exercise of judgment under conditions of unavoidable uncertainty

Teachers’ perception? Positive

Public perception? Mixed to Positive

Social media potential? Cautiously Optimistic

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Attribute #5

Professions are characterized by:

the need for learning from experience as theory and practice interact

Teachers’ perception? Positive

Public perception? Mixed to Positive

Social media potential? Cautiously Optimistic

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Unveiling the hidden work of teaching

Conferences

Lesson planning

Curriculum design

Summer workshops

Professional development

Reading

Collboration

Grading

Reflections

Policy positions

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Attribute #6

Professions are characterized by:

a professional community to monitor quality and aggregate knowledge

Teachers’ perception? Positive with too many false positives

Public perception? Mixed to Negative

Social media potential? Positive (but we can do better)

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Axe Grind #4: No secret handshakes.

I refuse to use “MathTwitterBlogosphere” or “MTBoS”

If you want to attract people into a community, use familiar language andsymbols. What’s cute to insiders looks like alphabet soup tooutsiders.

vs.

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Source: https://twitter.com/absvalteaching/status/347159472466186240

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Source: http://exploremtbos.wordpress.com/

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More than a support group?

(Feiman-Nemser, 2001, p. 1043)

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Do we have a critical stance and commitment to inquiry?

Do we know how?

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Source: https://twitter.com/sjunkins/status/446258513757491202

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Challenges

Recap:

How do we better use available social tools?

How do we facilitate research to practice?

How do we build on a shared vision of quality practice?

How do we welcome newcomers?

How do we develop norms for a critical stance?

What’s NCTM’s role in this?

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Source: https://twitter.com/ddmeyer/status/325357970860953601

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Source: https://twitter.com/Trianglemancsd/status/381458462854504449

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Source: https://twitter.com/MTChirps/status/381496124034412544

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Source: https://twitter.com/lmhenry9/status/381485328244035585

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Source: https://twitter.com/JJJsally/status/381494169371684865Raymond Johnson (CU-Boulder & FIUS) Math Teachers and Social Media NCTM 2014 50 / 57

Source: https://twitter.com/blaw0013/status/381478285835649024

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Source: https://twitter.com/ddmeyer/status/325357970860953601

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Discussion

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Follow the Teachers Leveraging Technology strand

9:30 Dan Meyer Video Games and Making MathMore like Things Students Like

Great Hall A/D

11:00 Karim KaiAni

Keeping It Real: Teaching Maththrough Real-World Topics

Great Hall B/C

12:30 Ashli Blackand ChrisHunter

The Mathtwitterblogosphere: Creat-ing Your Own Online ProfessionalLearning Communities

225/226/227

2:00 Kate Nowak One of Us: Every Teacher a BloggingTeacher

225/226/227

3:30 Panel Teachers Leveraging Technology inthe Classroom

Jefferson Ball-room (Hilton)

8:00SAT

David Wees Online Professional Learning Oppor-tunities for Mathematics Educators

R07

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Contact

Raymond Johnson

raymond.johnson@colorado.edu

http://mathed.net

@MathEdnet, +RaymondJohnson

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References I

Arbaugh, F., Herbel-Eisenmann, B., Ramirez, N., Knuth, E. J.,Kranendonk, H., & Quander, J. R. (2010). Linking research andpractice (Tech. Rep.). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers ofMathematics. Retrieved fromhttp://www.nctm.org/news/content.aspx?id=25315

Feiman-Nemser, S. (2001, December). From preparation to practice:Designing a continuum to strengthen and sustain teaching. TeachersCollege Record, 103(6), 1013–1055. Retrieved fromhttp://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/

0161-4681.00141 doi: doi: 10.1111/0161-4681.00141Heck, D. J., Tarr, J. E., Hollebrands, K. F., Walker, E. N., Berry III, R. Q.,

Baltzley, P. C., . . . King, K. D. (2012). Reporting research forpractitioners: Proposed guidelines. Journal for Research inMathematics Education, 43(2), 126–143.

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References II

Shulman, L. S. (1998). Theory, practice, and the education ofprofessionals. The Elementary School Journal, 98(5), 511–526.

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