I'm Saving Your Seat: Black Female Mathematics Teachers on Supporting Black Girls

• In Event: Confronting the Mathematics Struggle for Girls of Color in Public Schools: Transformative Experiences

Abstract

Amid challenges, Black girls persist and subsequently thrive in STEM fields in small numbers, including mathematics teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine the pedagogical perspectives of Black female mathematics teachers with respect to supporting the mathematical success of Black girls. “What insight on teaching mathematics to Black girls is unearthed when we learn from Black female teachers?” was the research question that guided this study. Intersectionality theory (Crenshaw, 1993) centered Black women and girls in the research. This framework accounts for the issue that Black women, “simultaneously situated within at least two groups that are subjected to broad societal subordination, [experience] problems traditionally viewed as monocausal” (p. 248). Black women’s experiences cannot be fully attributed to gender or race when considered separately; thus, I considered both across all phases of the research.

These data were drawn from an ongoing study that examines the racialized experiences of Black mathematics teachers. This analysis included one-and-a-half to three-hour interviews of four Black female secondary mathematics teachers who taught from 10 to 20 years in United States public schools. Data was analyzed for critical incidents (Sisson, 2016) that were pivotal to the teachers’ and students’ identities – including being Black, female, and doers of mathematics. The process involved selecting excerpts about the salience of race and gender with respect to teaching mathematics to Black girls.

Analysis suggests that teachers highlighted practices that yielded mathematics classrooms as spaces of belonging. For example, Tangie, a calculus teacher, explained, “I don’t just tell my girls, ‘I’ll include you.’… I tell her I was saving her seat.” Teachers also mentioned one-on-one interventions with Black girls who were apprehensive about participating in advanced mathematics classes. Tangie shared, “I can spot the uncertainty immediately. I’ve been them.” Other belongingness practices included creating classrooms where Black girls navigated multiple facets of their identities. Karen, a high school mathematics department chair and teacher, stressed that none of her girls’ identities, especially being Black and female, had to be concealed to be a valued member of the learning community. Academic affirmation included asking Black girls in Calculus to share their experiences with students of color who were hesitant to take a course where few students of color excelled. One teacher explained that she intentionally used Black girls’ exemplars during instruction for very specific reasons. Doing so positioned the girls as knowledgeable among their peers, and it countered the false notion that mathematical competency is predicated upon race, gender, or the intersection of the two. This study provides insight for supporting Black girls in mathematics from women who traversed similar paths. It also highlights the importance of Black teachers in shaping Black girls’ positive mathematics identities, which is rarely addressed in mathematics education literature.

Author

• Toya Jones Frank, George Mason University