Novice Elementary Teacher’s Enactment of Ambitious Instruction in Mathematics: Challenges and Responses

Substantial work in teacher education over the past several years has focused on elaborating and understanding the construct of ambitious instruction. While research on ambitious instruction has included detailed descriptions of ambitious teaching practices and the ways in which teacher education experiences are intended to promote the development of these practices, less research has investigated the conditions under which teachers, particularly novice teachers, are more or less likely to enact ambitious instruction (though Thompson, Windschitl, & Braaten, 2013, provide and exception). In this presentation, we will share the teacher preparation programs. We will also share four types of responses novices had to these challenges and the implications of these responses for the enactment of ambitious instruction.

Corey Drake is a Professor and Director of the Teacher Preparation at Michigan State University. She received her PhD in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University. Her research interests include teacher learning from and about curriculum materials, as well as the roles of policy, curriculum, and teacher preparation in supporting teachers’ capacity to teacher diverse groups of students.  Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Spencer Foundation and published in venues including Educational Researcher, Journal of Teacher Education, and Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education.

Kim Jansen is a postdoctoral research associate with the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on how policy, leadership practices, and organizational contexts influence classroom practice.