By Carol Funk
Mathematics is generally perceived as a difficult subject to learn.
Even math teachers have, in their past, experienced anxiety when
learning math. In contrast, however, math teachers are positive and
enthusiastic about learning and teaching mathematics. What has caused
this changes or differences in attitude?
The purpose of this study will be to investigate, via interviews, experiences that have influenced teachers to become math teachers. I will ask approximately ten math teachers to reflect upon and tell their personal narratives of the significant experiences that influenced them to become math teachers.
As a result of the study, participating teachers will have the opportunity to reflect upon themselves, therefore learn more about their past experiences and gain awareness of those of others. If transferable, positive experiences may be replicated to enhance the learning of math and even attract mathematicians to become math teachers. Ultimately educators will become better teachers as they improve their understanding about how they achieved success in learning math and gained confidence in their ability to teach it.
Connelly and Clandinin (1985) postulate that narrative unity of experience unifies theory and practice of teaching. They describe minded practice as images of experience, which act as guides for a person to make sense of future situations. Roberts (1996), Connelly and Clandinin (1985) agree that once a teacher understands how his/her beliefs have been formed, he/she can recognize how these beliefs influence their teaching practices.
I will conduct this study in Nanaimo BC (September 1998 to December 1999) at Nanaimo District Secondary School (NDSS). I will ask approximately ten teachers, with whom I am acquainted; to talk about the significant experiences that influenced them to become a math teacher. Although the interviews will be unstructured, I will use prepared questions to prompt participants, if necessary, to talk about their stories. I will audiotape each interview and take notes of data that is of interest or that requires clarification or amplification. The participant will also listen to the tape of the initial interview and expand on or clarify any information as needed. This will be audio taped as well.
In order to ensure that analysis is adequate and of high quality,
I will follow the criteria outlined by Lincoln and Guba (1985). As a
math teacher who has worked with each of the participants, I will
understand the context's culture. This will satisfy prolonged
engagement. Immediate analyzing of data will follow a hermeneutic
process and continuous verification of my constructions with
participants will establish credibility, as new constructions direct
future interviews and create an emergent design (Guba & Lincoln
1989).
As soon as possible after each interview, I will make a content
listing (Jordan & Henderson, 1995) of the audiotapes. I will
subsequently attempt to bunch the experiences into events and then
ethnographic chunks. After coding the data, I will construct diagrams
for analysis as recommended by Strauss (1987).
The draft version of my constructions will be cross-referenced with the audiotapes by uninterested parties (peer debriefing) and then verified by the participants (member check). Once agreement and/or understanding of negative cases are understood, I will finalize data construction and analysis. Data collection and analysis will begin in the fall of 1998 and terminate December 1999.