Three Lenses on Equity for Mathematics Content Teachers

Maria del Rosario Zavala

Kim Seashore

Ksenija Simic-Muller

Mathew D. Felton-Koestler

Three Lenses for Equity in the Math Classroom

Community and Inclusion

Anti-Racism

Social and Political Issues

Kim’s introduction

• Math Education Faculty in a Math Department
• I teach
• Math Content for Elementary Teachers
• Field study for Secondary Teachers
• Undergraduate Math: Calculus, Proofs
• GTA pedagogy course

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FOCUS:

Using math teaching and learning to create healthier communities and expand opportunities.

Why Community in Math Content Classes Matters

PSTs need to recognize their own identities in the math classroom in order to support student with different experiences or perspectives.

• PSTs experience having their experiences reflected and valued in classroom as learners.
• PSTs challenge assumptions they make about each other and about “normal”
• Values contributions based on different perspectives

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Looking at ourselves and each other

• Sharing of life experiences
• Discussion of who is and is not represented
• Challenging dominant assumptions about each other

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Graphs about Us:

Students add data about themselves to graphs

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About ME:

Forum posts

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My Music:

Each student submits a song to start each class

Ksenija’s introduction

• Mathematics teacher educator in a mathematics department; teaching content courses for K-8 teachers
• White, highly educated woman working in a system that is set up to benefit people like me
• Race is central to my work & I am always learning

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"The fight against racism is our issue. It’s not something that we’re called on to help People of Color with. We need to become involved with it as if our lives depended on it because really, in truth, they do."

- Anne Braden

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Anti-racist education

• Beyond food, heroes and holidays
• Beyond understanding and relating to histories, cultures and languages other than our own
• Centers equity and academic excellence
• Examines history and causes of institutional and structural racism
• Analyzes ways in which institutions, including schools, perpetuate racism
• Provides opportunities to collectively envision a fair and just society, communities, and schools

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(Beyond Heroes and Holidays)

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Anti-racist mathematics education

• Rethinking power and authority in the classroom

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• Value placed on stories and math

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• Careful selection of contexts (no victim blaming, focus on resilience)

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• One approach: warm-up routines (I notice, I wonder)

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Matt’s Introduction

• math content courses at University of Wisconsin and University of Arizona
• math methods at Ohio University
• using mathematics to explore social and political issues

Challenges…

• leaving topics under-explored (Larnell, Bullock, and Jett, 2016)
• supporting PTs in thinking critically
• who benefits
• what is the perspective of the oppressed
• thinking systemically instead of individually

Example Social/Political Task

FBI Crime Data 1960-2014

Violent Crimes

• Murder
• Rape
• Robbery
• Aggravated assault

Property Crimes

• Burglary
• Larceny-theft
• Motor vehicle theft

Task: Every Graph Tells a Story

1. Individually (2 min): sketch what you think the violent crimes line graph is
2. Pairs: briefly share your graphs and explain
3. ONE person gets the real graph and KEEPS IT HIDDEN
1. do NOT unfold the flap
2. tell a “simple story” to describe the graph while your partner draws it
3. start at the beginning and move forward in time, emphasize how the number of crimes are changing over time
4. Put the real graph between you, unfold the flap, and add a scale to the y-axis
5. Discuss: what did you learn about the world? what math thinking did you use? what more do you want to know about these data?

Task Discussion

What story details were helpful?

What math thinking did you use?

What did you learn about crime in the U.S.?

What more do you want to know?

Debrief

Why This Task?

• View mathematics as a tool for understanding our world

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• Challenge narrative that crime is prevalent

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• Precursor to prison population task

What Assumptions Are We Making?

• Begin with a conversation about students’ experiences
• Example: Step-in/step-back
• Violent crime is rising
• Feel unsafe in your neighborhood
• Have personally engaged with the prison population
• …
• Even though violent crime is lower, it may still strongly impact people
• We each have our own perspective that influences how we view the data

Small Groups then Share

We’ve discussed community and inclusion, anti-racism, and the use of social and political issues… how can/do these ideas inform your own teaching?

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Other questions or comments?