Mathematics teacher educators brokering caregiving experiences to enhance communication with families
摘要
In this article, we present knowledge gained from a collaborative autoethnography on our experiences as mothers related explicitly to teacher-family communication and how we leverage this knowledge as mathematics teacher educators to prepare pre-service teachers for effective teacher-family communication. Our field has explored student mathematical knowledge gained outside of school. Still, it has yet to explore mathematics teacher educator (MTE) knowledge constructed through MTE experiences outside of schools/universities, such as the tacit knowledge gained through the experience of mothering. Through this collaborative autoethnography, we came to view ourselves as boundary brokers who can cross over and connect the learning and practices of the mother community of practice to the MTE community of practice. Three main themes emerged from our data analysis relative to knowledge gained through our experiences as mothers in relation to teacher-family communication and the resulting changes in our MTE practice: communicating meaningful information about school decision-making and support practices, communicating a foundation and context for conversations about content, and communicating with the intent to build responsive mathematics practices. We assert that as we look for pathways to connect to families in mathematics education, one potential source is to look to the experiences of MTEs who are also parents/caregivers. This view challenges the field of mathematics education to expand its understanding of what constitutes professional knowledge. By viewing the knowledge of boundary-brokering MTE parents as assets to the field, we can contribute to the humanizing of mathematics education.