What’s Love Got to Do With It? The Role of Love in Equitable Mathematics Education

• In Event: Expanding Theory on Teacher Noticing Through Collaborative Inquiry and Co-Design

Abstract

Objective or purpose
Love is one approach teachers can use to connect with their students and build relationships to support more equitable learning contexts (Darder, 1991; Wong, 2019). We examine how a professional development (PD) program focused on expanding mathematics teachers’ noticing for equity became a context for a first-year Latinx teacher to develop an equitable learning context and implement love in her classroom.

Perspective(s) or theoretical framework
Research indicates that teachers can resist oppressive schooling practices and embrace transformative educational approaches through love (McArthur & Lane, 2019; Nash, 2013; Wong, 2019). Love requires teachers to be vulnerable and honest with students (Darder, 1991). Love supports students to feel present, noticed, and important (McArthur & Lane, 2019). Teachers can employ love to diminish divisions in their classrooms, cultivate caring relationships, and disrupt marginalizing practices. We draw on the framework of noticing for equity from a sociocultural perspective for this study as we engaged teachers in reflecting on their practice via video data (Authors, 2022; Bartell et al., 2017; Endacott, 2016; Hand, 2012; Louie et al., 2021; Rubel, 2017).

The research question for this study was: How does a PD program focused on expanding mathematics teachers’ noticing provide a context for a novice teacher to use love as a strategy for developing equitable mathematics teaching?

Methods and data sources
We draw on qualitative case study methodology (Baxter & Jack, 2008; Yin, 2009) to examine Ms. Bruno’s implementation of love in her mathematics classroom. Data collection included 10 PD sessions, 3 classroom observations, 3 noticing interviews, and 1 reflective interview to generate in-depth descriptions of love and math teaching of a first year teacher (the unit of analysis) in the context of a research-practice partnership (CoATTEND).

Results
Ms. Bruno’s participation in CoATTEND supported her implementation of love in her secondary mathematics classroom in the following ways: (1) She differentiated her interpersonal relationships with students so that everyone felt seen, heard, and valued such that they felt capable of learning the math at hand; (2) Her love for her students required that she figure out what their strengths and assets were, then use those resources to build and bridge students to the math they were learning; and (3) Ms. Bruno’s love was rooted in her Latinx identity, an identity that she shared with the majority of her students, which helped her consider how to best support her students based on their personal and social histories. Ms. Bruno reflected on the way she interacted with her students and connected love to her identity: “I feel like a Mexican mom with them. I feel like I’m very loving with them. I’m very loving-strict with them. And I think they kind of know that. We’ve had conversations about it. I’m expressing my personality. Like, ‘I love you’” (Noticing Interview 2).

Significance
This work suggests that love is an important aspect of equitable instruction generally and equitable secondary mathematics teaching specifically. Furthermore, our research illuminates how professional development focused on equity can support novice teachers early in their careers.

Authors

• Alison K. Munzer, University of California - Los Angeles

• Elizabeth A. van Es, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Allyson Vasquez-Bruno, Anaheim Union High School District