Abstract
This chapter comprises a conversation between the two authors focused on half-a-dozen core words concerned with teaching and their mutual interaction: dilemmas, tensions, commitments, obligations, ambivalence and, indirectly, technique. Additionally, we engage Jill Adler in an indirect conversation through her writing on the dilemmas teachers face in multilingual mathematics classrooms – the dilemmas of language transparency, of mediation, and of code-switching. We conceptualize dilemmas as endemic to teaching, rather than as solely involving the particular experiences of individuals, and we explore dilemmas as the result of clashes of obligations that one has as a teacher, instead of as arising from clashes of personal commitments. As we do so, we examine the centrality of language to the dilemmas that Jill describes and are drawn into an exploration of classroom ‘meta-commenting’, where an utterance itself (in some aspect) becomes the overt object of attention and talk (usually initiated by the teacher), rather than the meaning it is intended to convey.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adler, J. (2001). Teaching mathematics in multilingual classrooms. Dordrecht, NL: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Ball, D. (1993). With an eye on the mathematical horizon: Dilemmas of teaching elementary school mathematics. The Elementary School Journal, 93(4), 373–397.
Ball, D., & Wilson, S. (1996). Integrity in teaching: Recognizing the fusion of the moral and intellectual. American Educational Research Journal, 33(1), 155–192.
Barwell, R. (2014). Centripetal and centrifugal language forces in one elementary school second language classroom. ZDM—The International Journal on Mathematics Education, 46(9), 911–922.
Chazan, D. (2000). Beyond formulas in mathematics and teaching: Dynamics of the high school algebra classroom. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Chazan, D., Herbst, P., & Clark, L. (2016). Research on the teaching of mathematics: A call to theorize the role of society and schooling in mathematics instruction. In D. Gitomer & C. Bell (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching (5th ed.) (pp. 1039–1097). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.
Chazan, D., & Lueke, H. (2009). Exploring relationships between disciplinary knowledge and school mathematics: Implications for understanding the place of reasoning and proof in school mathematics. In D. Stylianou, E. Knuth, & M. Blanton (Eds.), Teaching and learning of proof across the grades: A K–16 perspective (pp. 21–39). New York, NY: Routledge.
Chazan, D., Sela, H., & Herbst, P. (2012). Is the role of equations in the doing of word problems in school algebra changing? Initial indications from teacher study groups. Cognition and Instruction, 30(1), 1–38.
Delpit, L. (1988). The silenced dialogue: Power and pedagogy in educating other people’s children. Harvard Educational Review, 58(3), 280–298.
Heaton, R. (2000). Teaching mathematics to the new standards. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Herbst, P., & Chazan, D. (2003). Exploring the practical rationality of mathematics teaching through conversations about videotaped episodes: The case of engaging students in proving. For the Learning of Mathematics, 23(1), 2–14.
Herbst, P., & Chazan, D. (2012). On the instructional triangle and the sources of justification for the actions of the mathematics teacher. ZDM—The International Journal of Mathematics Education, 44(5), 601–612.
Hewitt, D. (1996). Mathematical fluency: The nature of practice and the role of subordination. For the Learning of Mathematics, 16(2), 28–35.
Lampert, M. (1985). How do teachers manage to teach? Perspectives on problems in practice. Harvard Educational Review, 55(2), 178–194.
Lampert, M. (1990). When the problem is not the question and the solution is not the answer: Mathematical knowing and teaching. American Educational Research Journal, 27(1), 29–63.
Lensmire, T. (1994). Writing workshop as carnival: Reflections on an alternative learning environment. Harvard Educational Review, 64(4), 371–391.
Leron, U. (1985). Heuristic presentations: The role of structuring. For the Learning of Mathematics, 5(3), 7–13.
Moses, R., Kamii, M., Swap, S., & Howard, J. (1989). The Algebra project: Organizing in the spirit of Ella. Harvard Educational Review, 59(4), 423–443.
Pimm, D. (1994a). Spoken mathematical classroom culture: Artifice and artificiality. In S. Lerman (Ed.), Cultural perspectives on the mathematics classroom (pp. 159–170). Dordrecht, NL: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Pimm, D. (1994b). Mathematics classroom language: Form, function and force. In R. Biehler et al. (Eds.), Didactics of mathematics as a scientific enterprise (pp. 133–147). Dordrecht, NL: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Pimm, D. (1995). Symbols and meanings in school mathematics. London, UK: Routledge.
Pimm, D. (2014). Authority, explanation, contention and register: Language data and the surface search for essence. ZDM—The International Journal on Mathematics Education, 46(9), 967–976.
Planas, N., & Setati-Phakeng, M. (2014). On the process of gaining language as resource in mathematics education. ZDM—The International Journal on Mathematics Education, 46(9), 883–893.
Setati, M. (2008). Access to mathematics versus access to the language of power: The struggle in multilingual classrooms. South African Journal of Education, 28(1), 103–116.
Skemp, R. (1979). Intelligence, learning and action: A foundation for theory and practice in education. London, UK: Wiley.
Stubbs, M. (1975). Organizing classroom talk. Occasional Paper #19. Edinburgh, UK: Centre for Research in the Educational Sciences.
Wheeler, D. (1984). Gatherings. Mathematics Teaching, 106, 24–25.
Wheeler, D. (1998) The commonsense of teaching. In Proceedings of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group Conference (pp. 93–99). Vancouver, BC: UBC.
Wilson, S. (1995). Not tension but intention: A response to Wong’s analysis of the researcher/teacher. Educational Researcher, 24(8), 19–22.
Wong, E. (1995a). Challenges confronting the researcher/teacher: Conflicts of purpose and conduct. Educational Researcher, 24(3), 22–28.
Wong, E. (1995b). Challenges confronting the researcher/teacher: A rejoinder to Wilson. Educational Researcher, 24(8), 22–23.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chazan, D., Pimm, D. (2016). Dilemmas and the Teaching of Mathematics: A Conversation of Commitments, Obligations, and Ambivalence. In: Phakeng, M., Lerman, S. (eds) Mathematics Education in a Context of Inequity, Poverty and Language Diversity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38824-3_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38824-3_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-38823-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-38824-3
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)