Mason Coaching Institute for
Math and Literacy
Defining the Mathematics
Specialist’s Role
Dr. Gwenanne Salkind
Fairfax County Public Schools
April 1, 2017
Goals and Outcomes
 Gain
an understanding of the possible
roles and responsibilities of a Mathematics
Specialist
 Identify roles and responsibilities that
make the greatest impact in student
learning
 Practice advocating for those roles
What the Research Says:
Improving Student Achievement
 Mathematics
coaching increases student
achievement


Positive impacts in 1st and 2nd years of program
Even stronger results after 4 years of program
 To
significantly increase student
achievement, coaches need both
experience and sufficient time to interact
with teachers
What the Research Says:
Improving Teacher Instructional Practice
 Mathematics
coaching improves teacher
instructional practice including increases in






Teacher questioning
Student engagement
Teaching for understanding
Cooperative learning
Classroom discourse
Technology
Definitions
Specialist – has specialized
knowledge of mathematics content and
pedagogy (endorsement)
 Classroom Teacher – students assigned
to their class
 Mathematics Resource Teacher – no
students assigned to them, no assigned
classroom duties
 Mathematics
Who are you?
 Mathematics
Resource Teacher
 Classroom Teacher
 Administrator
 University Faculty
 Other
Jot Thoughts
 What
do Math Resource Teachers do?
 Jot down everything you can think of
(exclude non-math related things such as
bus duty, recess duty, lunch, etc.)
 One idea per post-it note
Table Group Share
 Share
your ideas
 Put like ideas together
Popcorn Share Out
 Pop
up to share an idea
 Keep sharing until time run outs or all
ideas have been shared
Roles and Responsibilities


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


Mathematics Coach
Mathematics Teacher
Works with Teachers
Teaches Students
Observing Lessons
Modeling Lessons
Co-Teaching
CLTs
Facilitating PD
Preparing resources


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Pull-out Groups
Intervention Groups
Advanced Mathematics
Regular Math Instruction
Coaches’ and Principals’
Conceptualizations of the Roles
of Elementary Mathematics
Coaches
Doctoral Dissertation
Gwenanne Salkind
George Mason University
2010
Participants
 125
mathematics coaches
 59 principals
5
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
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school districts in Virginia
Suburban
From very small (2000 students) to very large
(160,000 students)
Ethnically diverse populations
Math Specialist Models
Coaches’ Activity
F
S
R
N
Specialized-Teacher or Pull-Out Model
Teach children with no other teacher present
33.6
20.8
35.2
10.4
Provide remediation to individual children
33.1
30.6
26.6
9.7
Provide remediation to small groups of children
46.8
30.6
17.7
4.8
Work with teachers individually
60.0
29.6
8.8
1.6
Work with teachers in teams
65.6
25.6
6.4
2.4
Assist teachers in planning
61.6
30.4
5.6
2.4
Model Instruction
46.0
41.1
8.9
4.0
Co-teach lessons with teachers
47.2
32.0
17.6
3.2
Observe teachers teaching
20.3
42.3
31.7
5.7
Coach Model
Note. F = Frequently. S = Sometimes. R = Rarely. N = Never. By percent.
Principal
M
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h
e
m
a
t
i
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s
C
o
a
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h
Catalyst
For
Change
The Roles
School
Leader
Instructional
Specialist
of Math
Coaches
Data
Coach
Classroom Supporter
Curriculum
Specialist
1.
2.
3.
4.
How?
Who?
M odel
Co-teach
Observe
Reflect
1
2
3
4
Resource
Provider
Learning
Facilitator
Learner
Turn and Talk
 Where
should a mathematics resource
teacher spend most of his/her time?
 Consider Teaching Roles as well as
Coaching Roles.
Conventional Wisdom
 Coaching
teachers has more impact
school-wide than teaching students
 Co-planning and co-teaching is better than
modeling
 Coach-Teacher dialogue and reflection is
very important
Consider this…
“Coaches are frequently responsive to the
needs of individual teachers. If this support
is primarily marked by shared teaching or
provision of instructional materials, it may
not transform either instruction or teacher
knowledge.” ~Campbell & Griffin (2017)
Model for Thinking about Teachers
with whom Math Coaches Work
Willingness to Work with Coach
Mathematics Teaching
Unwilling
Willing
Needs
assistance
1
2
Competent
3
4
Consider this…
“If coaches work exclusively with new and/or
struggling teachers in year one, the
message sent is clear: Coaches are for
those who don’t know or can’t do. This is
exactly the opposite message we would
want to send.” (West & Cameron, 2013, p. 32)
Consider this…
“Coaches need to engage teachers in fundamental
dialogue about mathematical content,
mathematical learning, and student understanding.
It may be that this dialogue and the effectiveness
of a coach’s work with individual teachers would
benefit from a coach’s concurrent work with gradelevel teams. When a coach leads a grade-level
team through discussion of targeted goals and
approaches, the coach may facilitate individual
teacher learning while building collective learning.”
~Campbell & Griffin (2017)
Turn and Talk
 Who
should a mathematics resource
teacher coach? Why?
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Every teacher in the school?
Novice teachers?
Teachers who need help with mathematics?
Competent and willing teachers?
The worst teachers?
The best teachers?
Teams or Individuals?
Scenarios
 Read
each scenario
 Decide what you would do
 Draft the main points you would make in a
discussion with your principal
Thank You!
 Thanks
for spending time with me today!
 We had some awesome discussions!
 Gwenanne
Salkind
 [email protected]