•Novice facilitators’ changes in practices in two different countries are examined.•Despite the different contexts, changes in practices are found to be similar.•Practices are linked to facilitators’ resources, orientations, goals and identity.•Managing mathematics teachers' PD discussions can be learned and developed.•Recommendations for supporting novice facilitators of are presented. Novice facilitators of professional development (PD) programs for mathematics teachers often face challenges in leading productive discussions and achieving the goals of these programs. Although research in this area is gradually accumulating, not much is known about how novice facilitators address these challenges and change their practices accordingly. This paper presents case studies of two novice facilitators of PD programs in two different countries. The analyses look at their work over one year, to illustrate the changes in their practices while managing discussions. The results show that although the facilitators operated in different contexts, their practices and their processes of change resembled, suggesting that these processes are not idiosyncratic. We argue that novice facilitators’ changes in practices correspond to changes in their resources, orientations, goals, and identities and that PD program teams can support these changes.