I discovered the article “Addressing the Equity Principle in the Classroom” in Vol. 101, No. 8 of The Mathematics Teacher.
http://project8020.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/7/6/2676617/bartellmeyer200.pdf
The article describes a research project performed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison involving the math teachers of a chosen school district that participated in defining equity in the classroom. The following four responses emerged from the project:
- Equity is about instruction.
- Equity is about creating a specific classroom environment.
- Equity is about equal opportunity.
- Equity is about appropriate curriculum.
This study also asked teachers to identify one student that was performing below proficiency level or a student whom they had little personal connection. The teachers were given questions to facilitate getting to know the student and reflect on how getting to know students on a personal level correlated with achievement. Teachers reported in multiple cases that just getting to know these students better that achievement began to rise for each individual student.
In one of the reflections, the teacher realizes the stress one student has with English being a second language and working to provide for his family outside of school. Another teacher shared how a student simply talks to her about her interest outside of the classroom and have found commonalities in those interests, creating a positive environment in the classroom. This student has displayed a higher level of achievement since these interactions. This appears to have been accomplished without a distinct change in instruction, simply from more positive interaction and relationship building with the individual student.
After reading about this study, I determined that the methods math teachers use in the classroom that promote relationships and interaction among peers and teachers alike are very important to providing equity of access to mathematics. Teaching is a form of communication. By creating more mediums through which we can communicate concepts in which students and teachers can understand, we will have more pathways to communicate understanding.
So how? How do we build relationships that promote mathematical understanding? Even though this appears to be less specific than mathematical instruction, building relationships is very important to general learning. One of the things I will be doing in my classroom involves developing values of our community (classroom) through the students’ eyes, giving them ownership of what the environment should be. I want to break students into small groups, mixing them up periodically in the first period of time that they spend in the classroom. I want students to discuss what standards we want to live by in OUR classroom. There will be a couple that I will have at the beginning such as Follow the Code (school handbook), Look at the Person You are Speaking To. Everything else will be the product of the students. However, finding a way so every student is heard and validated is very important. This sets the tone for students to have ownership of the culture as well as places myself as a teacher as serving the students’ needs that they identified themselves. Once we establish these things, we can move into mathematical instruction with a foundation built on the needs of the students.
The one thing I think is missing from this study is how the students interacted with each other in these math classrooms. There are far more relationships in the classroom than just teacher-student. I believe the dynamics of peer relationships, especially in secondary education, can impact equity in a math classroom. Facilitating positive, productive interactions of students with their peers can break some of the barriers of equity in the classroom.
I discovered another blog titled “8 Characteristics of an Equitable Mathematics Classroom”. https://mathisforeveryone.wordpress.com/2015/03/05/8-characteristics-of-an-equitable-mathematics-classroom/
It promotes conversation for problem-solving which opens communication pathways for students to access understanding. The blog also states that “achieving equity is meaningless if it sacrifices excellence”. This should be the challenge of all math teachers to connect with students’ needs to achieve both of these things.
7-12 Math Methods 