In my current district I feel like I have a unique and different approach to teaching mathematics. Whether it is because I am one of the ‘younger’ teachers or because I learned math through an integrated approach or because my love of math goes far beyond just the algorithms we teach to the beauty of it that appears in nature and the world around us I always try to bring interesting or different topics to my students about math as well so that hopefully their love of mathematics can grow. However, an area that I have always struggled to integrate an interesting or different approach is Data and Statistics. This week in my CEP 805 class I was able to give myself some time to improve my Specialized Content Knowledge (Hill & Ball 2009) in this area through the lens of social justice. This was truly eye opening for me as I’ve always wanted to integrate other subjects into my math classroom so that students can see that subjects have interconnections and are not just separate entities. It seems obvious that you could integrate science and math, but integrating something like social change or social awareness always seemed so difficult to me and I felt I would just have to leave that to the History and English teachers in my building. After investigating lesson plans on Dr. France’s Harpers site, solving world problems, that integrate data, probability, statistics and other mathematical concepts to promote social awareness and justice, I was so excited to borrow or modify these lessons and bring them to my classroom to share with my students. That being said, while these topics absolutely need to be taught to students, the current climate of education has me a bit worried about push back from administration, parents, and students. Being married to an English teacher who teaches kids social awareness through the lens of empathy for others on a daily basis I see the stress and worry that it brings him. But if the focus is instead that “culturally relevant pedagogues understand that their job is not to make students think like they think, but rather to have them think” (Clark 2021, p27) then I don't think there could be much room for people to complain. After seeing ways that I can integrate social awareness into my mathematics lessons and reading about why it is so important that underrepresented groups are seen and heard in all subject areas I feel more confident to tackle these important issues. While looking for lessons that integrate social justice and mathematics I found ways to improve my Knowledge of Content and Teaching (Hill & Ball 2009) through sites like PBS Learning Media and the always amazing YouCubed. Resources:
Hill, H., & Ball, D. L. (2009). The curious - and crucial - case of Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(2), 68–71. Clark, C. P. (2021). An opportunity or change: Groundbreaking scholar Gloria Ladson-Billings on culturally relevant pedagogy and why education as we know it needs to be transformed. Literacy Today, 38(5), 24–27.
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AuthorMarissa McGregor, high school math teacher extraordinaire. I love my husband, daughter, and family dearly. Archives
August 2022
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