Maybe you have heard someone say something like, ""Equity in a math class? Isn't math just numbers?How does equity fit in?"
Equity is for ALL classes and ALL students...and that definitely includes math.
We are proud to release a book from two incredible educators that not only shows the significance of this essential work, but also provides a framework that can be applied right now across all grade levels.
Most of the top jobs for the future require students to have a strong foundational understanding of mathematics. Our failure to mathematically educate most students in general, and students of color in particular, is bad not only for these students individually but also for our society.
Pamela Seda and Kyndall Brown have poured their heart into a new book to serve as a solution. Pamela is a wife, mother of four adult children, a math educator with over 30 years of experience, and has a master's degree and Ph.D. in mathematics education from Georgia State University. She is currently a mathematics curriculum coordinator. Kyndall Brown has over 35 years of experience in mathematics education, was a secondary mathematics teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 13 years, has master's degrees in computer-based education and mathematics education, and a Ph.D. from UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. He is currently the executive director of the California Mathematics Project.
In Choosing to See: A Framework for Equity in the Math Classroom, Pam and Kyndall offer a substantive, rigorous, and necessary set of interventions to move mathematics education toward greater equity, particularly in serving the needs of Black and Brown students, who are underrepresented and underserved as math scholars.
The authors' thoughtful ICUCARE equity framework serves as a lens to help teachers see where they are achieving this alignment and where they are not—through this lens, choosing to see means caring enough about what you see to act. It means accepting that every one of your students can be an expert given the opportunity. It means recognizing negative stereotypes about marginalized students and understanding their effects. It means knowing that your students have rich lives outside the classroom that can inform what you do inside the classroom. And it means recognizing and celebrating their human dimensions so that all students' strengths, capabilities, and talents can grow.
This book is for EVERYONE!
Pam and Kyndall remind us throughout the pages that equity is not a destination but a journey. And, on this journey, we need resources like Choosing to See to help us foster a culture of inclusion in not just the math class but any learning setting. There are nuggets of wisdom for all.
I love what Jacqueline Leonard, professor of Mathematics Education, University of Wyoming, stated in her endorsement,
"The authors of this book share rich personal stories that not only help teachers to see their students but to also perceive who they are and what they can become."
This book is for anyone choosing to see.
The question is...
Are you choosing to see?
If so, you will want to add this one to your professional library. It is a MUST read! Grab your copy RIGHT HERE and let us know what you think by using the hashtag #Choosing2See and tagging Pamela and Kyndall.
- Dave
PS: There is still time to celebrate Poetry Month by picking up the amazing You Are Poetry: How to See and Grow the Poet in Your Students and Yourself by teacher and award-winning slam poet, Mike Johnston!!