The Sharpe Lab in the Syracuse University School of Education is comprised of a group of mathematics and teacher educators, graduate students, and undergraduate research assistants who are interested in supporting and studying teacher learning and mathematics education. The lab began in 2018 as the Classroom Learning and Practice (👏CLaP👏) research group, and has since expanded to include a number of other projects related by the leadership of Dr. Charlotte Sharpe, Ph.D., whose research focuses on teacher learning and mathematics education.

Some of the themes that run through the work of the Sharpe Lab are:

• A focus on context. Where we are, the norms that govern those spaces, the resources and tools available to us, and the expectations and accountability for our work all shape our practices as teachers.
• A focus on learners. Who we are teaching, and our perceptions and beliefs about those learners, are enormous factors in our decisions and choices in preparing, engaging in, and reflecting on instruction.
• A focus on community. Do I belong here? Are these my people? Teachers, like students, are more likely to invite curiosity and criticality into their work when they feel supported to do so in a supportive but bold community.

New endeavors

• The Teacher Pipeline Program (TPP) team is studying an initial research-practice partnership to develop a pipeline program for local youth of color interested in teaching.
• We are also developing grant proposals to study students’ interest in and entry to the TPP as 8th graders. If funded, we will launch a study in January 2023 to study 8th grade students’ community cultural wealth as youth interested in teaching.
• Stephen Caviness, a student in the Sharpe Lab, is developing, testing, and refining a practical measure for assessing elementary students’ mathematics identities in order to understand how teachers’ instruction influences how students see themselves as math learners.

Ongoing projects

We are analyzing data from several semesters of mediated field experiences, in which teacher educators go with teacher candidates to just one or two classrooms to support them as instructors and coaches during their math lessons.

We are analyzing data from a survey of teacher educators (administered Summer 2019) who have used mediated field experiences across a range of institutions. Our analyses focus on how TEs develop new practices as they face and overcome challenges in establishing or sustaining MFEs in their contexts.