TEACHING ASSISTANTS ’ USES OF WRITTEN CURRICULUM IN ENACTING MATHEMATICS LESSONS FOR PROSPECTIVE ELEMENTARY TEACHERS

In research universities, teaching assistants often act as instructors in lower division mathematics courses. Typically, they are provided with a written curriculum (e.g. textbooks and/or lesson plans) for their courses. In this study, we explore how these resources are utilized or adapted. Two teaching assistants were observed while they taught three fraction lessons in a mathematics course for future elementary teachers. Interviews were conducted before and after the lessons to gather further information on their views of the course and the written curriculum. Results showed that the instructors enacted only a little over 50 % of the textbook content. We discuss several factors that influenced how they adapted the written curriculum. OBJECTIVES Teaching assistants (TAs) play a vital role in undergraduate mathematics instruction. Acting as sole instructors, recitation instructors, tutors, or homework graders, they are in frequent contact with undergraduate students in the lower division mathematics courses such as college algebra, pre-calculus, and mathematics courses for prospective K-8 teachers (Speer, Gutmann & Murphy, 2005). Typically, new and les