EQUIP-ing Prospective Mathematics Teachers to Notice Racialized and Gendered Participation Patterns (Poster 3)

• In Event: Expanding Coaching and Representations to Support Teacher Sense-Making Toward Disrupting Inequitable Mathematics Teaching Practices

Abstract

Purpose
Situating teacher learning in sociopolitical contexts is increasingly becoming a focus of teacher preparation programs (Carter Andrews et al., 2017; Turner et al., 2012). In this session, we present the potential of the visual representations generated with EQUIP as a vehicle for such learning, particularly with White teachers. EQUIP (https://www.equip.ninja) is an equity-oriented classroom observation tool, and it offers quantitative visual representations of participation patterns disaggregated by social marker groups (Authors, 2018). Here, we introduce EQUIP-ing as a teacher learning practice, where teachers 1) use EQUIP-generated representations to identify classroom-level inequities in terms of social marker groups, 2) interpret those inequities in sociopolitical contexts, and then 3) redress inequities in ways that prioritize the needs of minoritized groups. We present promises and challenges of EQUIP-ing mathematics teachers based on our iterations of integrating EQUIP-ing into a field-based teacher learning experience.

Theoretical Perspectives
Since the goal of EQUIP-ing is fostering teachers’ sociopolitical noticing, we drew from frameworks of equity-oriented noticing (Hand, 2012; Author and colleague, 2020; Wager, 2014), which informed the design of EQUIP-ing as a practice and how we examined teacher learning. The noticing framework includes three interrelated components: attending, interpreting, and responding (Jacobs et al., 2010; van Es & Sherin, 2002). We specifically attended to prospective teachers’ (PTs) noticing racialized and gendered participation patterns.

Data & Methods
We worked with 25 participating PTs (19 White women and 6 White men) in a secondary mathematics methods course. PTs recorded their teaching, and they coded their video recording with EQUIP. PTs then developed individual written reflections and participated in small group discussions. Analysis began by identifying evidence of three components of noticing (i.e., attending, interpreting, and responding). We then developed separate thematic codes for each component of noticing to understand the nature of PTs’ noticing.

Results
Overall, we found that EQUIP-ing can empower PTs to connect their teaching practices with racialized and gendered patterns of student participation. One promising finding is PTs’ explicit attention to racialized participation patterns. Given the race-evasive norms among White PTs (e.g., Haviland, 2008), it is possible that the explicit display of race data in the EQUIP-generated representations made it harder for PTs to completely avoid naming race.

We also found that the data representations encourage greater variations in PTs’ interpreting and responding. On the one hand, some PTs drew a connection between their own questioning and inequitable participation patterns. On the other hand, some PTs attributed inequitable patterns to minoritized students’ individual characteristics (e.g., perceiving that students were unwilling to participate). This finding raises concerns about deficit-oriented interpreting and responding.

Significance
EQUIP-ing seemed to immerse White PTs in deep dives into problems of practice related to marginalizing participation patterns. In the case of race, some PTs began to see how racism is entangled with mathematical learning. In the case of gender, EQUIP-ing facilitated more nuanced attention to gender inequities. However, we add a caution that EQUIP-ing without appropriate support for asset-based noticing can inadvertently exacerbate harm to minoritized students.

Authors

• Sunghwan Byun, North Carolina State University
  Presenting Author

• Niral Shah, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Daniel Reinholz, San Diego State University
  Non-Presenting Author