A Preservice Teacher’s Practice of Orchestrating Classroom Discussion When Teaching Linear Equations

This study investigated a preservice secondary school teacher’s practice of orchestrating classroom discussion when teaching linear equations. Data were generated using video lesson recordings of nine lessons and were analysed using thematic analysis. Themes were developed a-priori from the theoretical framework and a-posteriori from the data. Findings show that the preservice teacher’s capacity to orchestrate classroom discussion was influenced by his mathematical knowledge for teaching. In particular, the preservice teacher anticipated what students would do by focusing on the correct solution processes but did not plan for expected students’ errors and misconceptions. In addition, the preservice teacher monitored students’ work by listening, observing students’ work, and asking the students to explain their solution processes but did not keep track of students’ approaches because of lack of analysis skills and questions that could elicit students’ reasoning and arguments. The preservice teacher also selected certain students to solve problems on the chalkboard in order to find out if the students knew the “correct” solution process of a particular problem. Furthermore, the preservice teacher attempted to draw connections between algorithms but did not draw connections between students’ mathematical ideas and other students’ ideas because he did not give students opportunities to present their work. These findings suggest that teacher education programmes in Malawi would benefit more from guiding preservice teachers in anticipating, monitoring, selecting and sequencing students’ solution processes for presentation and discussion. The findings also suggest that it is imperative to improve preservice teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching in order to improve their ability to orchestrate classroom discussion.