Reconnecting With Powerful, Personal Resources to Teach and Learn Mathematics: Experiences of Three Latina/o Preservice Teachers

• In Event: After the School Bell Rings: Opening Up New Spaces for Teaching/Learning Mathematics With Latinas/os

Abstract

The status of Latinas/os’ education is in crisis (Gándara & Contreras, 2009). Recently, much attention has been given to what knowledge base pre-service teachers (PSTs) need to effectively accommodate Latina/o (and other bilingual) students given their unique linguistic backgrounds, strengths, and needs. Several researchers have argued that language minority students’ (LMS) home language is a resource that teachers need to build on to support their learning of mathematics (e.g. Adler, 2001; Barwell, Barton, & Setati, 2007; Khisty, 1995, 1997; Setati, 2005). However, there is still a question of how to prepare and support those teachers – even those who share similar linguistic backgrounds with their language minority students (LMS) – to integrate their knowledge of students’ home language in mathematics instruction. This paper discusses how three bilingual Latina/o PSTs face a process of revalidating their native language and negotiating their language choices (i.e. English and Spanish) in order to support students in mathematical problem solving and communication – two key components of reform-style mathematics (NCTM, 2000).
The findings discussed come from a longitudinal, ethnographic study of an after-school mathematics club, Los Rayos. Within Los Rayos, Latina/o elementary school students, parents, PSTs, and university researchers interact to solve (and sometimes create) challenging mathematical activities that are often times absent from classroom settings. Los Rayos was deliberately designed to position young Latinas/os as collaborators and competent mathematical doers (Khisty & Willey, 2011) and minimize institutional pressures so that Latinas/os’ often-hidden linguistic and cultural learning resources could be exposed; as in reality, Spanish is a worthy medium to do rigorous intellectual/mathematical activities (Adler, 2001; Brenner, 1998; Khisty, 1995, 1996; Moschkovich, 2002, 2005). All children and PSTs were bilingual (Spanish and English) to varying degrees and, therefore, had the autonomy to choose which language they wanted to use. The PSTs, however, had experienced an education were English was the main – and reinforced – means for communication and learning, thus not all of them spoke academic Spanish fluently. Spanish, nonetheless, was intended to be the privileged language of interaction in order to maximize access to and participation with the mathematical activities. Though all participants were actively involved in the activities, the PSTs served as the primary facilitators of the student groups.
The discussion focuses on the PSTs’ experiences as they maneuvered through the activities with students in two languages, especially the struggles and successes to facilitate academic activities in Spanish. The PSTs’ academic histories and perspectives – in relation to Spanish – are the critical unit of analysis. Careful analysis of the activity groups, PSTs’ fieldnotes, and weekly focus groups revealed PSTs’ difficulty to use Spanish in more academic or formal situations, but they eventually valued and utilized Spanish as a mathematical teaching-learning tool. These results are situated within a sociopolitical context in which English is revered as the language of success. We use the notion of Language Ideologies (Fairclough, 2003) to understand the meaning of the PSTs’ experiences. Implications for the mathematics teacher preparation of Latinas/os and other language minority PSTs are discussed.

Authors

• Craig J. Willey, Indiana University - Indianapolis

• Carlos Alfonso Lopez Leiva, University of New Mexico

• Eugenia Vomvoridi-Ivanovic, University of South Florida