Candidate for AMTE President - Gail Burrill

 

Background and Experience

 

Gail Burrill is a specialist in the Division of Science and Mathematics Education at Michigan State University where she works with preservice teachers and directs the mathematics professional development component of an NSF funded mathematics/science partnership based at MSU.  Prior to coming to MSU, Gail was the director of the Mathematics Science Education Board (MSEB) at the National Research Council and served as the President of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. For over 25 years, she taught mathematics in a suburban Milwaukee high school and was the chair of the math department. Gail received her Master’s degree in mathematics at Loyola University of Chicago and her Bachelor’s at Marquette University.

 

Gail has been the PI on a variety of national projects including the American Statistical Association’s Quantitative Literacy program, a joint U.S-Japan lesson study project, and travel grants to ICMEs 10 and 11. Since her selection as a Woodrow Wilson Teacher in the mid-eighties and as a Presidential Awardee for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics, Gail has been involved in designing and delivering professional development to teachers both nationally and internationally. Currently, in addition to her work on PROM/SE, she directs the Secondary School Teachers Program for the Institute for Advanced Study/Park City Mathematics Institute and co-directs the Park City International Seminar, which brings a small group of international educators together to focus on issues related to the preparation and professional development of teachers. She is also an instructor for Teachers Teaching with Technology.  She has written curriculum materials at the middle and high school levels, published numerous articles on teaching and learning mathematics and statistics and served as editor or co-editor for a variety of publications, including editing the 2006 NCTM Yearbook, Thinking and Reasoning with Data and Chance.  She has served on or directed national and international task forces and committees focused on the improvement of mathematics/statistics education and has been a member or served as a consultant for a variety of boards and educational initiatives.

 

Her work for AMTE includes chairing the task force on Mentoring, which led to the creation of the current Mentoring Committee of which she is a member, serving on the Annual Program Committee, and on the Nominations and Elections committee.  Her interests include the preparation of teachers, the role of technology in teaching and learning mathematics and the development of a knowledge base for teaching statistics.

 

 Vision for AMTE

The preparation of teachers is the focus of discussions among educators, policy makers, business, and even the larger community on topics ranging from the content knowledge of teachers to the effectiveness of schools of education.  AMTE is poised to take a leadership position in bringing a focus to these discussions in the area of the preparation and professional development of mathematics teachers.  AMTE members have the breadth and depth of knowledge to do this and the motivation and strategic positioning to make it happen. A first step is to strengthen AMTE’s ties to the other professional mathematics organizations, who play major roles in the development of mathematics teachers and mathematics teacher educators. AMTE has successfully collaborated with NCTM on several projects but should actively pursue opportunities to expand on these (ie., preconferences for AMTE members at NCTM regional meetings; joint position papers on issues related to teacher education). Many mathematicians, with little or no preparation or background in pedagogy, are being called on to teach the methods courses in their institution.  In some areas, prospective teachers take many of their initial university mathematics courses and often their methods courses in community colleges. AMTE should cultivate relationships with these groups to work together on some of our common challenges and to find ways to support these organizations as they serve their members.    

 

Second, AMTE should actively promote and support research on the pedagogical preparation of mathematics teachers with a focus on studying methods courses across institutional and political boundaries. The current plethora of programs with widely diverse aims and goals makes it imperative that a community of researchers begin to consider the usefulness and limitations of various assessments and research methods related to the preparation of mathematics teachers and mathematics teacher educators to better inform our work and develop insight into successful practices.

 

Third, AMTE can make a real difference in what happens in PreK-12 classrooms by using its resources, journals, and conferences to provide stronger links between research and practice.  Mathematics teacher educators should provide the bridge that helps teachers build and utilize the knowledge base of the profession.   This should include strategies for initiating and maintaining dialogue across the communities about field experiences for preservice teachers, support for beginning teachers and opportunities for practicing teachers to develop an understanding of how research can inform their practice.

 

Preparing teachers to teach mathematics is exciting, challenging and rewarding work. My experiences as a secondary teacher, researcher, and mathematics teacher educator will help me work with AMTE members so that together we can continue AMTE’s commitment to supporting every mathematics teacher educator and to becoming a leader in the broader community of teacher education.