Often times professional development sessions are seen as ineffective by educators because the sessions are missing one, if not more, of the components identified in Figure 1. “The typical organization of schools and teachers’ work allows teachers to work alone, isolated in separate classrooms most of the day. These arrangements provide limited time, and school budgets often provide slim resources for teachers to meet and talk together about how they can improve student learning” (Goldring & Berends, 2009, pp. 103-104). It is important to remember that teachers are just like students, they are at different levels of learning and have different needs. A one-size fits all approach is not an effective approach with professional development.
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(p. 565-566)
“Teaching and learning mathematics are complex tasks. The effect on student learning of changing a single teaching practice may be difficult to discern because of simultaneous effects of both the other teaching activities that surround it and the context in which the teaching takes place” (Grouws & Cebulla, 2000, p.8). The evidence suggests that teachers lack content knowledge that is essential when teaching …show more content…
1). If teachers do not understand the content in which they are teaching, then they are unable to effectively deliver instruction to their students. Effective professional development for teachers can help increase content knowledge that not only helps teachers, but in turn helps the students they teach. “Mathematical knowledge for teaching goes beyond what has been captured in measures of mathematics courses taken or basic math skills, there has to be on-going professional development” (Hill, Rowan & Ball, 2005, p. 327). Despite the widespread interest and concern, previous research is limited in the area of teacher content knowledge and its’ effects on student achievement (Hill et al., 2005). “Teachers’ content knowledge for teaching math is a significant predictor of student achievement” (Hill et al., 2005, p. 398). Grouws and Cebulla (2000) wrote about how research indicates that some teaching strategies are worth considering to help improve teaching practices, especially in mathematics (p.
(p. 565-566)
“Teaching and learning mathematics are complex tasks. The effect on student learning of changing a single teaching practice may be difficult to discern because of simultaneous effects of both the other teaching activities that surround it and the context in which the teaching takes place” (Grouws & Cebulla, 2000, p.8). The evidence suggests that teachers lack content knowledge that is essential when teaching …show more content…
1). If teachers do not understand the content in which they are teaching, then they are unable to effectively deliver instruction to their students. Effective professional development for teachers can help increase content knowledge that not only helps teachers, but in turn helps the students they teach. “Mathematical knowledge for teaching goes beyond what has been captured in measures of mathematics courses taken or basic math skills, there has to be on-going professional development” (Hill, Rowan & Ball, 2005, p. 327). Despite the widespread interest and concern, previous research is limited in the area of teacher content knowledge and its’ effects on student achievement (Hill et al., 2005). “Teachers’ content knowledge for teaching math is a significant predictor of student achievement” (Hill et al., 2005, p. 398). Grouws and Cebulla (2000) wrote about how research indicates that some teaching strategies are worth considering to help improve teaching practices, especially in mathematics (p.