Developing Mathematical Identities and Critical Consciousness Through Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Mathematics Education: A Self-Study

• In Event: Interdisciplinary Approaches to a Pedagogy of Humanization: Preparing Teachers for Culturally Sustaining Classrooms

Abstract

Various mathematics education reform initiatives led by national professional organizations, like the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM), TODOS: Mathematics for ALL (TODOS), and several others, have targeted efforts to create, support, and sustain a culture of excellence and equity in mathematics education. One way to respond is to examine teaching and learning mathematics in ways that promote equity through culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy in mathematics education (see Civil et al., 2019; Gutstein & Peterson, 2013; Matthews et al., 2022). This session reports on a self-study of three mathematics teacher educators who collaboratively critiqued their positionality and participation in the context of responding to these initiatives in mathematics teacher education. Attention is drawn to the experience of one mathematics teacher educator who reflects on her positionality in the context of this work. She shares how a collective group within a shared teacher education program challenged her to rethink her role, personally and professionally, in supporting pre-service teachers (and their future students) in developing positive mathematical identities and critical consciousness to challenge inequities through a mathematical lens.
Data includes the reflective activities created and used by the mathematics teacher educators in their mathematics methods courses to leverage culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy by attending to academic rigor, cultural competence, and critical consciousness (Ladson-Billings, 1995). For instance, one activity asks to graph one’s experiences with mathematics over time. The mathematics teacher educators’ collective experiences showed how experiences reinforced beliefs about themselves and influenced what they thought of mathematics, including who does mathematics and what it means to be proficient. In another activity used to promote cultural competence, reflection on students’ funds of knowledge is guided through an interview. The mathematics teacher educator shares how she worked with the collective to create prompts that gather information about prior mathematics experiences, cultural background and interests, and mathematical strengths and curiosities to influence teachers’ decision-making, especially in relation to guiding relevant and meaningful mathematics connections. Additionally, reflections on a sampled vignette titled “A Flight Towards Justice” shares ways to encourage the use of mathematics as a tool to critique social issues and prompt justice-oriented political discourse. Insights into the creation and critique of this vignette as a catalyst to spark conversations of advocacy and justice are detailed.
The significance of this research is to invite reflection through self-study on ways mathematics teacher educators create and critique activities that can be used to leverage culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogy to provoke new possibilities for mathematics teaching and learning. The shared activities and how mathematics teacher educators use and self-respond to the activities invites needed conversations about ways teacher education can help pre-service teachers examine the nature of mathematics, who it is for, and how mathematics can be used to better understand culture and community (Gutiérrez, 2018; Gutstein, 2006). Reflections guiding positionality and one’s experience, challenge, and privilege in such a space prompts ways to reimagine mathematics teacher education that considers the vulnerability and humanization of all involved.

Author

• Alesia Mickle Moldavan, Georgia Southern University