| President's Message (July 2010) |
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by Christine Walker
A sizable portion of the work involved in teaching takes place well before the first day of classes. Beginnings are important. Students will decide very early—some say the first day of class—whether they will like the course, its contents, the teacher, and their fellow students. In continuing the discussion on “Equity in Mathematics Education” we turn our focus this month to the preparation it takes in beginning the first week of class. At a workshop in April a particular PowerPoint slide appeared during a discussion on preparation titled “How Preparation Matters.” The slide quoted a teacher who left the profession after the first year, “I could maybe have done a bad job at a suburban high school. I stood to do an awful job at a (city) school where you needed to have special skills. I just didn’t ever know I needed them before I went in. I felt like, OK, I did the workshops; I know math; and I care about these kids…You know, I had the motivation to help, but I didn’t have the skill. It’s sort of like wanting to fix someone’s car and not having any idea how to fix a car. I wasn’t equipped to deal with it, and I had no idea.” It is poignant that perhaps as educators we might not be cognizant of the extra preparation that could be done with regards to teaching for equity this fall for the 2010-11 school year. A good rule to live by as preparations are made this summer is to learn as much about and become as sensitive as we can to racial, ethnic, and cultural groups other than our own. Questions that we ought to be asking ourselves as we are preparing are: Am I comfortable around minority students? Do I expect minority students to need extra help? Do I call on minority students as often as others? Do I think that there is one correct or appropriate mode of argument or discussion in class? How open am I to multiple modes of discourse? Do the minority students seem to participate less than others? Do I rationalize or tolerate lack of participation from minority students more than I would from other students? Do I think their silence means ignorance? Do I believe it is culturally based? How do I behave with minority students who are under-prepared?
As summer progresses consider these questions as material and syllabi are created. Set goals to make sure that students are able to participle in class in ways that will help them achieve the learning goals for the course. Spend some time to reflect on one’s own teaching practice, develop an equitable curriculum, evaluate and discuss pedagogy with peers, and become comfortable with the elements involved in teaching for equity. Joyce Taylor-Gibson said, “In our multicultural society, culturally responsive teaching reflects democracy at its highest level. [It] means doing whatever it takes to ensure that every child is achieving and ever moving toward realizing her or his potential.” I welcome your feedback and comments and especially encourage each of you to consider attending and presenting at our annual fall conference to be held in November. |