Evolution of a Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching Lesson Analysis Tool

• In Event: Articulating Theoretical and Methodological Approaches for Mathematics and Science Teachers' Pursuit of Racial Justice

Abstract

Objectives or purposes. The purpose of this paper is to document and describe the transformational shifts in our approach to studying culturally responsive mathematics teaching (CRMT). We argue that while the theoretical and methodological roots of CRMT have remained consistent, its meaning has shifted in response to societal changes and the sociopolitical turn in mathematics education (Gutiérrez, 2013). We explore these shifts in CRMT by examining the evolution of a framework and lesson analysis tool developed for K-12 mathematics teacher learning.

Perspective(s) or Theoretical Framework. Our work with CRMT is theoretically grounded in the intersection of culturally responsive pedagogy (Gay, 2000; Villegas & Lucas, 2002) and pedagogical content knowledge needed for teaching mathematics (Shulman, 1987; Sowder, 2007). This paper introduces the perspective of Liberatory Design (Annaissie et al, 2016/2017) as a new process to analyze and refine CRMT and support teacher learning.

Methods and Data Sources. We draw on Liberatory Design as a way to trace cycles of the tool through 5 phases: empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test. Liberatory Design allows for dynamic and cyclical processes of analysis, with a focus on meeting needs of a given community. This is a process we hope to mirror with teachers.

Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view.

Through the Liberatory Design lens, our analysis revealed purposeful efforts to dis-entangle and re-entangle equity, social justice and mathematics considerations for classroom practice to better evaluate and reflect on essential parts of CRMT and its impact on teacher learning.

We initially defined CRMT as a set of specific pedagogical knowledge, dispositions, and practices that privilege mathematical thinking, cultural and linguistic funds of knowledge, and issues of power and social justice in mathematics education (Author, 2013). As former classroom teachers, we empathized with teachers’ needs to create meaningful mathematics learning experiences that challenge the status quo. While our ideation process was limited by practical constraints on teacher learning, we ultimately adapted a research-tested observation protocol (WCER, 1992) and built the first prototype of the CRMT lesson analysis tool. We added equity-focused dimensions for multilingualism, culture and social justice. Two empirical research studies testing the efficacy of the tool found that its use supported critical reflection on instructional practice and identified the added equity dimensions as aspects of mathematics instruction that needed the most support.

Further revision, prototyping, and testing brought us to new versions as we cycled through evolving ideas about equity and mathematics in teacher education. Our final cycle of design takes us to our current tool prototype that addresses power relationships, cultural sustaining practices, and humanizing as essential considerations of mathematics instruction (Goffney & Gutiérrez, 2018; Horn, 2012; Paris, 2012).

Scholarly Significance. Better intellectual tools are needed to deepen teacher learning (Grossman et al, 2005). However, few tools for mathematics teaching include explicit equity and social justice components necessary to address issues of power, liberation, and justice. Liberatory design process has strengthened our work in CRMT to refine our tools and address this gap through empirical study.

Authors

• Julia M. Aguirre, University of Washington - Tacoma

• Maria del Rosario Zavala, San Francisco State University