BEING A PD OPPORTUNIST: LEVERAGING TEACHERS’ IDEAS TO BUILD MATHEMATICAL KNOWLEDGE AND CHALLENGE BELIEFS.

In this paper, I describe a process used in professional development sessions to leverage participating teachers’ mathematical ideas as a means to further develop their mathematical knowledge and potentially modify beliefs teachers may hold about instruction and their students. I use an integrated theoretical framework that incorporates noticing, Whiteness and positionality. Sample instructional vignettes are provided that demonstrate how I employ teachers’ solutions to mathematical problems as a means to support their mathematical thinking, challenge beliefs they may hold about teaching and their students, while also validating the mathematical ideas that they bring to the learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]