Noticing for Black Joy in Mathematics

• In Event: Collaborative Approaches to Noticing for Anti-Oppressive Mathematics Education

Abstract

Objectives
The ways that mathematics teachers notice can shape the way that Black students experience and participate in mathematics. Teachers’ noticing of the ways that mathematics classrooms do not support Black students' success provides opportunities for teachers to respond in ways that highlight Blackness and Black Joy. This project supported teachers in noticing towards the facilitation of Black Joy in mathematics classrooms; an anti-racist effort to address the racism inherent in society and the field of mathematics (Bell, 1992) by uplifting Black students within the dominant White space of mathematics. By partnering with educators, community leaders, and Black high school teachers, this study’s aim was identifying abolitionist teaching strategies to generate Black Joy in mathematics classrooms.

Theoretical Framework
As Black students learn and participate in mathematics classrooms, they are learning and participating within oppressive, anti-Black systems (Love, 2019; Hamann, 2015). Anti-Black ideology is prevalent throughout institutions and systems that have historically excluded Black people, making the navigation of White dominant spaces like mathematics classrooms particularly challenging for Black youth (Leonardo, 2018; Davis & Ernst, 2019). Love (2015) conceptualizes Black Joy as the intentional and political choice to be joyous despite the systemic oppression, racism, and prejudice that Black people face. Love’s (2015) conceptualization may be utilized by educators of Black youth to notice potentially joyous moments in mathematics classrooms. Research questions: 1) How do the participants conceptualize Black Joy? 2) What does it mean to notice for Black Joy?
Methods
Data sources for this study include noticing interviews, anecdotal notes, and artifacts from Black Joy meetings. Data sources were analyzed thematically for conceptualizations of Black Joy (in mathematics classrooms), noticing that supported or hindered it, and abolitionist teaching strategies that could create and facilitate Black Joy. Patterns in these themes were explored across the data and memo’ed to expound upon preliminary findings.

Findings
Preliminary findings for this study indicated that noticing for Black Joy is complex, subtle and deeply tied to anti-racism and abolitionist teaching. It is a lived and felt experience, meaning people with different positionalities will have more or less experience with it, influencing their ability to notice in ways that both recognize and cultivate it. For example, Black participants, or those with histories working on anti-racist education, were more likely to be able to theorize, feel, see, and describe Black Joy, both its essence and its multifacetedness. A second finding is that some participants drew from their experiences of Black Joy in their everyday lives, which was emotional work, and supported noticing Black Joy in mathematics classrooms.

Significance
This study builds upon existing research around mathematics teacher noticing by moving the field towards anti-racism. Much is understood about the impact that teachers noticing may have upon students of color and equitable participation within mathematics classrooms, there is still much to learn about strategies that teachers and students may engage in to promote Black Joy within mathematics.

Author

• Michelle Frierson, University of Colorado - Boulder