Exploring young children's (mathematical) thinking: preservice teachers reflect on the use of the one-to-one interview

Abstract

One-to-one interviewing is one of the most powerful ways of exploring young children's thinking. While there are a few studies which report the use of this pedagogic strategy by preservice teachers, more are needed. This paper describes an early childhood mathematics education assignment which preservice teachers in a teacher-education college in Ireland undertake with four-and five-year-old children. It presents an analysis of data from a selected sample of 58 preservice teachers' reflections on their dialogues with individual children. It describes how the preservice teachers engaged with the process of interviewing the children; how they reflected on their interactions with the children; their reflections on the children's engagement; and their reflections on young children's mathematics generally. Some dilemmas faced by the participants in the course of the interviewing are highlighted. Findings demonstrate the integrated nature of the knowledge that early childhood teachers need to teach early childhood mathematics effectively. The learning arising from this assignment relates to early childhood mathematics thinking, to the psycho-social nature of learning in early childhood and to pedagogy in early childhood education.

Understanding How Teachers Listen in a Reading Enrichment Program

“…Effective listening is a necessary component of discourse and, thus, an important skill for teachers to support all students’ growth, including gifted students (Harkness & Wachenheim, 2008; Hoag & Wood, 1990). Despite evidence suggesting that careful reflection can promote increased awareness of teachers’ listening patterns (Dunphy, 2010), the degree of reflection in which teachers regularly engage is not clear. Attard (2007) suggested that teachers are not socialized toward deep reflection about practices that might be challenging.…”

“…Listening is a challenging (Dunphy, 2010) and complex process (Hoag & Wood, 1990). The International Listening Association (ILA; 1995) posited the following: “Listening is the process of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken and/or non-verbal messages” (p. 4).…”

“…One practice for improving teacher questioning and listening is the use of reflection journals. In Dunphy’s (2010) study of pre-service early childhood teachers, participants interviewed children to learn about their mathematical thinking, and then the teachers recorded their thoughts about the interviews in journals. Some teachers noted they asked too many questions or gave students too little thinking and responding time.…”

Assessing Our Students Assessing Their Students: Support and Impact of Preservice Teachers on P–5 Student Learning

“…Finally, ST preservice teachers selected a featured student, who they were required to monitor closely throughout the instruction of the unit, investigate the case more in-depth in the area of daily performance, reflect on their contribution to the P-5 student's learning achievement, and provide communication with parents. These critical reflections, aligning closely with our College of Education motto, Reflective Teachers for Diverse Learners (College of Education, n.d.) and following a process emphasized widely in teacher preparation programs (Darling-Hammond, Hammerness, Grossman, Rust, & Shulman, 2006;Dunphy, 2010;Good & Whang, 2002;Myers, 2013;Sims & Walsh, 2009), provided evidence of preservice teachers' professional development. This reflection process allowed preservice teachers to consciously examine their practices and the effects on their featured P-5 students, thus contributing to their significant Downloaded by [Yale School of Medicine] at 13:00 25 July 2015…”

“…Hedrick also reported that although these preservice teachers serving as tutors in their practicum experiences were not experienced teachers, their students achieved enhanced growth in reading. Similarly, Mewborn (2001) and Dunphy (2010) noted that preservice teachers working with small groups in mathematics instruction contributed significantly to P-5 student's achievement. Downloaded by [Yale School of Medicine] at 13:00 25 July 2015 Stuart and Thurlow (2000) and Clark (2012) investigated the impact of preservice teachers on elementary mathematics students' achievement and attitudes; Lazar (2007) examined preservice teachers' attitudes toward children's literacy in high poverty urban schools.…”