November Equity Gathering

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The MCTM Equity Committee hosted an Equity Gathering in November. Everyone was invited to first meet at El Burrito Mercado in St. Paul then relocate to Red Balloon Bookshop to listen to Dr. Debbie Reese discuss her new book, An Indigenous People’s History of the United States for Young People. Over piled-high nachos and spicy salsa, we immediately found a connection to math education in the Osseo School district, a belief that a low- floor task can be quickly closed with a closed question and a low-level task can open a lively discussion and generate deep thinking with an open-ended question, then easily moved into the pros and cons of flipped learning. Laughter and connection continued as we shared a recent success in relation to our work in math and equity. A takeaway for me again is the work is hard and it’s critical to find people to lean into, learn from, and share laughter. There are so many wonderful successes each day; students who find community and begin to share their voice, teachers who are looking for guidance to critically analyze their practice to best support each student, high expectations and the use of visuals pushing student thinking to higher levels, and so much more.

Pictured: Barb Everhart, May Vang, Laura Wagenman, Mike Weimerskirch, and Lesa Clarkson

 

We then headed to Red Balloon Bookshop to listen to Dr. Debbie Reese, a tribally enrolled Nambé Pueblo, talk about the need for a book to help young people learn the history they may not have been taught. She shared how to find books that accurately portray Native Nations, only 1% of books published in 2018 depicted characters from American Indian/First Nations, and the necessity of talking about Indigenous People in the here and now through their multitude of contributions. As she spoke, I thought about how this connects to our work in math education.

  1. How are we as math educators giving our students mirrors to the math contributions of Indigenous People? The following are just some of the many resources out there to support this work.
  • The Mathematicians Project: Mathematicians Aren’t Just White Dudes by Minneapolis High School Educator, Annie Perkins
  • The National Museum of the American Indian Native Knowledge 360° Essential Understandings about American Indians, a framework that offers new possibilities for creating student learning experiences.
  • Share about local Indigenous artists and the connection to our work in math. Sarah Agaton Howes is “an Anishinaabe artist, teacher, designer, and community organizer from Fond du Lac Nation in Minnesota. She is the CEO of House of Howes. She is widely known for her moccasins, beadwork, and regalia classes connecting community through art. As an Inspired Natives collaborator Sarah brings together the Ojibwe timeless tradition with contemporary design to make heirloom usable art.”
  1. How are we teaching students to ask critical questions? She referenced questions from her publication, Critical Indigenous Literacies: Selecting and Using Children’s Books about Indigenous Peoples, “Whose story is this? Who benefits from this story? Whose voices are not being heard?” This led to thinking about how do we encourage questioning in math classrooms. A great resource is The Art of Questioning in Mathematics from The NCTM Professional Teaching Standards.
  2. Something I am still reflecting upon and questioning is the work I am doing as an educator, whether I am asking critical questions about equity in math education. Rereading Dr. Reese’s questions, I connected her questions to mathematics. Who has access to high-level math? Whose contributions are being valued/seen? Who benefits from our current system? Who benefits from the story I am telling/way math is currently being taught? Whose voices are not being heard? I appreciate NCTM Equity and Access Position Statement as it is a start to guide as I ask questions and act upon what is needed for each child with these points in mind.
  • “being responsive to students’ backgrounds, experiences, cultural perspectives, traditions, and knowledge”
  • “…all students routinely have opportunities to experience high-quality mathematics instruction”
  • high expectations
  • “all educators operate on the belief that all students can learn”

The MCTM Equity Committee would love to have you join in the conversation. We have a Zoom meeting on Monday January 13th, 8:00-9:00. If you’re interested in joining, please reach out to our Equity Committee Co-Chairs either via email or on Twitter.

Lesa Covington-Clarkson: covin005@umn.edu @LesaCC

Barb Everhart: barbara.s.everhart@gmail.com @berealcoach