Learning to Lead Mathematics Professional Development

By: Catherine Carroll, Judy Mumme

Designed for mathematics professional development leaders, this set of case-based leadership materials helps build facilitation skills, content knowledge, and pedagogy to design and implement effective staff development programs.

This multimedia kit includes a user's guide, as well as 2 DVDs with 44 seminars arranged into 7 modules containing notes, video clips, participant work, PowerPoint slides, and much more. The modules focus on mathematics and facilitation skills, reflect research on adult learning, and model a community of practice.

Unlike a typical guide for a specific professional development program, these materials focus on facilitation issues likely to be encountered in a variety of mathematics professional development situations including:

• Managing productive mathematical discussions
• Being mindful of equity issues in mathematics teaching
• Selecting appropriate mathematical tasks
• Deepening teachers' knowledge of mathematics

This kit is ideal for those charged with supporting teacher leaders and others who lead mathematics professional development. Potential users include curriculum leaders, math-science partnership staff, university-district partnership staff, and mathematics teacher educators. WestEd staff members work with groups of leaders to help develop and refine their skills, sensibilities, and long-term capacities enabling them to design and implement quality mathematics professional development.

A series of Leaders of Mathematics Professional Development seminars tailored to meet specific school, district, and project needs, can be designed to address groups of mathematics professional development leaders at any grade span K-12. These seminars are based on Learning to Lead Mathematics Professional Development materials.