Abstract
This chapter explores ways to cultivate a culturally responsive math classroom for in-person and remote learning. In doing so, readers will analyze examples and non-examples of culturally responsive teaching at work. The author will examine a conducive math classroom whose environment and climate is rooted in establishing a healthy and safe math community. She will also dissect texts and curriculum that reflect a culturally responsive math classroom or the lack thereof. In addition, this chapter will identify creative strategies that promote cultural and responsive principles for in-person and remote learning. With these five domains, environment, climate, text, curriculum, and strategies, educational leaders will become equipped to cultivate a culturally responsive math community in their classroom suited for diverse learners.
TopIntroduction
Ms. Carlson: Why haven’t you gotten started, Baye?
Baye: [Whispers under his breath] Because this is stupid. The problem makes no sense. Who cares how many different sizes the rabbits’ playpen can be?
Ms. Carlson: You haven’t even tried the problem yet.
Baye: [Looks briefly at the students sitting around him and mumbles] What difference does it make? I can’t do it. That’s why I’m in this class, right? (Aguirre, Mayfield-Ingram, & Martin, 2013, p. 6)
This vignette, provided by The Impact of Identity in K – 8 Mathematics, depicts the frustration and discouragement that students face in response to mathematics. Unfortunately, educators like myself have had similar encounters with students more frequently than not. The war students have internally of not being good enough or smart enough is a constant battle in the math classroom.
To counteract the narrative illustrated, teachers and administrators must engage in meaningful interactions with students to learn more about their personal, family, community, and social backgrounds in order to fully meet the mathematical learning needs of students (Aguirre et al., 2013). Within these broad bands, students’ make-up consists of multiple identities: racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, spiritual, gender, mathematical, etc. From these identities and more, students are then able to perceive, comprehend, and apply mathematics. Moreover, research has demonstrated how not seeing students’ culture in lessons can impact one’s perception of a particular subject as well as hinder the development of their identity, self-esteem, determination, and interests (Fitts & Gross, 2010; Hollie, 2018; Johnson-Smith, 2021; Thomas & Berry III, 2019). The failure to validate, affirm, build, and bridge our various backgrounds into a classroom is exclusive and detrimental to cultivating student-agency and mathematical identity.
Therefore, it is important to note that learning one’s identities is vital to learning any new topic or concept in-person, hybrid, or remotely. Learning and embedding students’ multi-faceted identities into a math classroom is by no means an easy task. Students’ identities are diverse and complex; “…all students develop, resist, and try on many different identities as they make sense of their experiences in school and non-school contexts” (Aguirre et al., 2013, p. 20). Acknowledging and appreciating students’ identities, especially in connection to mathematics, can give teachers a better understanding of how and why some students make positive connections with mathematics and others do not (Aguirre et al., 2013). It is through practices like culturally responsive teaching where students are seen, valued, and included in the learning experience. For these reasons, this particular chapter, will focus on culturally responsive practices that embrace students’ identities in a mathematics classroom for various types of learning settings.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Equity-Based Teaching: The action of recognizing inequitable learning opportunities and combatting them with reasonable, differentiated, and appropriate accommodations to promote access and attainment for all students; supports include, but are not limited to, time, instruction, curricular materials, resources, and programs. This practice of teaching ensures that all students have access to high-quality curriculum, instruction, and supports needed to be mathematically successful given any setting.
Mathematics Framework (2013): The guiding principles grounding this structure, specifically for California public schools, are learning, teaching, technology, equity, and assessments. The framework incorporates standards for mathematical practice and standards for mathematical content to help facilitate student learning; focus, coherence, and rigor are essential elements of the California Common Core State Standards for mathematics that are designed to prepare students for college, careers, and civic life. Interwoven throughout these resources are the key components of access, curriculum, appropriate tools, standard-aligned tasks, and a culture of professionalism.
Culturally Relevant Teaching: Derived from Ladson-Billings’ culturally relevant pedagogy, it is a means to empower students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by bridging cultural experiences and historical references with concepts taught in school. This way of teaching makes learning more palatable and relevant to the learner.
Iceberg Concept of Culture: A concept that debunks race as behavioral, but focuses on ethnocultural behaviors, which are home cultural behaviors learned that represents one’s heritage. The Iceberg Concept of Culture is composed of three parts: surface culture—easily noticeable and recognizable behaviors and customs; shallow culture, which are unspoken rules; and deep cultural, which are unconscious rules in one’s culture that are harder to observe.
Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching: Is composed of culturally responsive pedagogy and pedagogical content knowledge that focuses on mathematical thinking, language, culture, and social justice. It invites students to examine the world as mathematicians using four key elements: Developing students’ proficiency with important mathematical concepts, relationships, and skills; engaging students’ identities by honoring their prior experience, community, and individuality; sharing mathematical authority with students; connecting mathematics to the investigation of authentic contexts and issues.
Creative Teaching: Imaginative and meaningful approaches to make learning more interesting, engaging, exciting, innovative, and effective. Creative teaching is customizable depending on the teacher’s skills, experiences, and perspectives.
Culturally Responsive Teaching: Through Gay’s development, it is the use of cultural knowledge, language, prior experiences, and background of ethnically diverse students to make teaching and learning experiences more effective and relevant for all learners. This form of teaching requires educators to examine and positively change instructional materials, strategies, student-teacher relationships, classroom climate, and self-awareness to improve learning for students.