Efficacy of Preschool Teacher Math Talk

Transcript analyses of classroom observations reveal how three preschool teachers use the language of math as they interact and engage children in Circle Time. Subsequent interviews analyze how they make sense of their own ability to transmit important mathematical concepts and expectations for all children, and how each teacher’s language reflects her math efficacy, affecting the circular relationship between the teacher, her students and mathematics. Children may be capable of more math than we, as preschool teachers, are presenting in our daily activities and interactions with them. The present study considers the way preschool teachers use and think about mathematics, both in the classrooms and in general, in order to better understand how more robust mathematical content might be made available to children at the beginning of their formal education. I analyzed the subject-matter content in three separate and diverse preschool settings to illuminate some of these and related issues. A teacher’s misperception of her own math knowledge capabilities and the knowledge potential of her students, may contribute to a lack of efficacy toward mathematics teaching and a pattern of negative perceptions toward the subject matter. At the confluence of teacher, child and subject matter, embedded in each school day activity, are preschoolers challenged to a degree that is more representative of their developing ability to incorporate mathematical understanding into their lives?