Teaching is an array of in-the-moment yet purposefully posed questions that are responsive and adaptable to student growth (Walcoe et al., 2019). Responsive teaching refers to practices that elicit, respond to and take up students' thinking to connect to the math itself (Ebby et al., 2021).  Supporting the development of responsive teaching in early career teachers is a step toward educational equity, as they are the first to be placed in underserved schools. 

This comparative study stems from a larger project on responsive teaching practices among preservice teachers from the Urban Teaching Apprenticeship Program (UTAP) and the Urban Residency Teaching program (UTR) at the Graduate School of Education. 

Findings highlighted the benefits of decomposing teaching's complex nature among early career teachers despite different focuses (learning versus guiding), gains (teacher confidence versus classroom insight), and approaches to responsive teaching (eliciting versus orienting) within the study. 

This study suggests that collaborative reflection on practice allows teachers to develop their responsive teaching, even if their goals or takeaways differ slightly. A discourse community can provide enhanced awareness, structure among the ambiguous, and a sense of purpose. 

Note: Kayla and Holly are pseudonyms. 

References 

Ebby, Remillard, & Goldsmith-Markey. Learning to teach responsively: The power of giving and receiving feedback on video records of practice

Parrish (2011). Number Talks Build Numerical Reasoning

Walcoe et al., (2019). Video tagging as a window into teacher noticin