Teaching Math Teaching Podcast · Eva Thanheiser, Dusty Jones, Joel Amidon, Jennifer Wolfe

Episode 76: Pat Nash & Brittany Rollins: Treating Prospective Teachers as Equals in the Classroom

·26 min·2 clips

Pat Nash, in her 49th year of teaching, and Brittany Rollins discuss their roles in mentoring future math teachers.

This episode features veteran teacher Pat Nash and early-career educator Brittany Rollins, both eighth-grade math teachers from Texas. Hosts Dusty Jones and Jen Wolf from the Teaching Math Teaching Podcast interview them about mentoring student teachers. The conversation centers on their practical experiences hosting prospective educators during field placements in their middle school classrooms. Pat Nash has taught for 49 years at the same school, Mance Park Middle School, and once taught the children of host Dusty Jones. Brittany Rollins is in her seventh year at Midway Middle School, working in the very classroom where she completed her own student teaching through Baylor University. They discuss the specific dynamics of having a student teacher in a mathematics classroom. The teachers explain their approaches to gradually releasing responsibility to a novice educator. Pat describes a structured, multi-week process where the student teacher begins by observing and then progresses to teaching individual students, small groups, and finally whole-class lessons. Brittany emphasizes the importance of the cooperating teacher remaining actively present and engaged in the room during the student teacher's lessons. She shares that she continues to monitor student understanding and provide real-time, whispered feedback or clarification to pupils if needed. Both teachers highlight the value of daily debriefing conversations to reflect on lessons and student learning. A key insight is that this mentorship model benefits the experienced teacher's practice through reflective dialogue and new perspectives. Pat notes that a successful placement requires the student teacher to be fully invested and "all in" on the collaborative process. Brittany reveals that her own positive student teaching experience directly inspired her to become a mentor herself. The teachers stress that the primary goal is maintaining a high-quality learning environment for the middle school students throughout the transition. The tone is conversational, practical, and warmly supportive, focused on sharing tangible strategies from the classroom. The style is an informal interview, rich with personal anecdotes and direct advice from practicing professionals. This episode is ideal for current math teachers considering mentoring a student teacher or anyone involved in teacher preparation programs. Listeners seeking highly theoretical discussions of education policy might find the content too narrowly focused on daily classroom logistics.

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