ORCID

0009-0004-9582-0454

Keywords

Affirming Learning Walks, Coaching, Mathematics Teacher Leadership, Mentoring through Coaching, Professional Identities, Transformational Leadership

Abstract

This qualitative narrative inquiry examined how 14 mathematics teacher leaders experience mentoring through coaching interactions with Affirming Learning Walks (ALWs) and how these interactions shaped their professional identities and leadership development over time. Situated within a larger NSF Noyce–funded project, the study focused on participating master teachers engaged in sustained, school-based professional learning contexts. Guided by interbehavioral theory and critical perspectives, mentoring through coaching is conceptualized as a relational, contextual, and reciprocal process embedded within specific activity systems rather than as a unidirectional transmission of expertise. Narrative data were drawn from multiple sources, including semi-structured interviews, reflective writings, and artifacts generated through ALW cycles. Individual participant narratives were constructed to attend to temporality, social interaction, and context, highlighting how mathematics teacher leaders make meaning of mentoring through coaching experiences across time and settings. Analytic processes involved iterative narrative analysis to examine patterns related to leadership enactment, identity negotiation, and positioning within school communities. Findings offer nuanced insight into how affirming, non-evaluative observation practices function as a pathway for leadership learning, relational trust-building, and professional growth. Implications are discussed for the design of professional learning, coaching models, and leadership development initiatives that leverage affirming, non-evaluative observation practices to support mathematics teacher leaders’ growth.

Completion Date

2026

Semester

Spring

Committee Chair

Bush, Sarah

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Community Innovation and Education

Format

PDF

Document Type

Dissertation

Identifier

DP0053216

Release Date

5-15-2028

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Available for download on Monday, May 15, 2028

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