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Dr. Dorothy Y. White, University of Georgia Yopp Distinguished Speaker Series in Mathematics Education
March 4, 2014
Characterizing Preservice Teachers’ Mul5cultural
Mathema5cs Disposi5ons
Warm-‐Up
Think about your first teaching/academic job and the students you encountered. How would you describe your students? department? school? What did people value? What did you have to learn and do to work in that space?
Think about your second teaching/academic job and the students you encountered. How would you describe your students? department? What did you use from your first job to help you in your second
job? What did you have to learn and do to work in that space?
Warm Up
Culture has been characterized as the consistent ways in which people experience, interpret, and respond to the world around them; It represents the “ways of being” of a collec5ve popula5on
(Marshall, 2002, p.8)
As an African American female and Na5ve New Yorker, I experienced culture shock when I moved to Maryland and then to Georgia.
Research is oWen biographical.
Overview
Background
Overview of MCMD
Descrip5on of the Unit
Tool list Ac5vity and Preliminary Findings
Analysis Ac5vity
Conclusions and Implica5ons
Audience Feedback and Sugges5ons
Background
The rela5onship between culture and learning is well documented in the literature (Boaler, 2006; Engle, 2006; Gu5errez & Rogoff, 2003)
Mathema5cs classrooms are cultural spaces where various forms of knowledge and self are validated (Nasir, Hand, and Taylor, 2008)
Background
Teacher educa5on ins5tu5ons are responsible for challenging Preservice teachers to: Cri5cally reflect and discuss issues of diversity (de Freitas, 2008;
Kidd et al, 2008; Leonard & Evans, 2008; Rousseau & Tate, 2003)
Understand and learn how to recognize students’ cultural backgrounds while engaging them in challenging mathema5cs (Kitchen, 2005; Leonard, 2008)
Develop mul5cultural disposi5ons (Dunn, 2005; Garmon, 2004; Mills and Ballantyne, 2010 )
Background
Mathema5cs teacher educa5on researchers are designing and studying experiences for preservice teachers to: Classroom observa5ons and lesson planning (Aguirre et al.,
2013; de Freitas, 2008; Drake & Norton-‐Meier, 2007; Koestler, 2012; Leonard & Evans, 2012);
Field placements and student interviews in diverse sekngs (Dunn, 2005; Fernandes, 2012; Guiterrez, 2009; Leland & Murtadha, 2011),
Family and community funds of knowledge projects (Civil, 2007; Drake & Norton-‐Meier, 2007; Turner et al., 2012)
Background
These experiences are designed to help PSTs become "culturally conscious" (Bennen, 1995; Gay, 2002; Villegas & Lucas, 2002) of their own cultural socializa5on in mathema5cs educa5on and to understand how this socializa5on affects their aktudes and behaviors toward cultures of other ethnic groups.
Background Teachers’ disposi5ons toward students’ cultural background play an
important role in their teaching prac5ces and effec5veness (Thornton, 2006)
Garmon (2004) iden5fied three disposi&onal factors as “cri5cal in facilita5ng the changes that occurred in [a preservice teacher’s] beliefs about and aktudes toward diversity” (p. 204).
However, we need to further iden5fy the essen5al factors that comprise cri5cal reflec5on and responsive disposi5ons in mathema5cs educa5on.
Preservice teachers need to develop disposi5ons in mathema5cs that I call mul$cultural mathema$cs disposi$ons (MCMD)
Background
“habits of mind including both cogni5ve and affec5ve anributes that filter one’s knowledge, skills, and beliefs and impact the ac5on one takes in classroom or professional sekng.”
(Thorton, 2006, p. 62)
Extending Garmon’s work Garmon (2004) White, Murray & Brunaud-‐Vega (2013)
Openness is “Recep5veness (i.e., open-‐mindedness) to others’ ideas or arguments, as well as recep5veness to diversity” (p. 202).
Openness is recep5veness to the role of culture in teaching and learning mathema5cs,
Self-‐awareness/self-‐reflec$veness is “Having an awareness of one’s own beliefs and aktudes, as well as being willing and/or able to think cri5cally about them” (p. 202).
Self-‐awareness/self-‐reflec$veness is perceiving the differences between one’s own culture and other cultures, awareness of personal beliefs about teaching and learning mathema5cs or mathema5cs classroom culture; and (3) the ability to think cri5cally about those issues.
Commitment to social jus$ce is “A sense of social jus5ce as a commitment to equity and equality for all people in society” (p. 202).
Commitment to culturally responsive pedagogy
MCMD
MulAcultural mathemaAcs disposiAons are intended to encourage mathema5cs teachers to see mathema5cs as a cultural ac5vity and their role as a mediator between students’ culture and mathema5cal learning.
Mul5cultural mathema5cs disposi5ons are characterized by three disposi5onal factors: 1. Openness 2. Self-‐awareness/Self-‐reflec5veness 3. Commitment to culturally responsive mathema5cs teaching
MCMD: Openness
Openness is recep5veness to the role of culture in teaching and learning mathema5cs. It includes being open to:
1. others’ cultures and arguments about teaching and/or learning mathema5cs
2. the idea that different cultures may think about and do mathema5cs differently than oneself
3. the inclusion of culture in mathema5cs classrooms
4. the value of using culturally responsive strategies to teach mathema5cs
MCMD: Self Awareness/Self Reflectiveness
Self-‐awareness/self-‐reflec&veness is understood as perceiving the differences between one’s own culture and other cultures. Thus, we iden5fy mathema5cs teachers’ self-‐awareness/self-‐reflec5on as:
1. awareness of their personal culture beyond recognizing that they are different than others
2. awareness of their own beliefs about the influence of culture on teaching and learning mathema5cs or mathema5cs classroom culture they have experienced
3. the ability to think cri5cally about those issues
MCMD: Commitment
Commitment to culturally responsive mathema&cs teaching as the explicit inten5on of teachers to use culturally responsive strategies in the classroom. Commitment includes:
1. using “the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effec5ve for them” (Gay, 2000; p. 29)
2. holding high expecta5ons for all children
3. exposing children to rigorous mathema5cs
Research Questions
What are preservice teachers’ mul5cultural mathema5cs disposi5ons (MCMD) during a cultural-‐awareness mathema5cs unit?
How can we characterize preservice teachers’ MCMD?
Context
Large College of Educa5on
Three Cohorts of Preservice Teachers
Elementary (PreK-‐5), Elementary Mathema&cs Methods II
Middle Grades (4-‐8), Middle Grades Mathema&cs Methods I
Secondary (7-‐12), Mathema&cs Pedagogy II
Context
Context Cultural Awareness Unit
The unit enabled us to discover preservice teachers’ awareness of:
1. the role of culture in the teaching and learning of mathema5cs 2. stereotypes about who can do mathema5cs 3. strategies to teach mathema5cs
The unit consisted of three parts: 1. ar5cle search and cri5que 2. class discussions 3. post-‐discussion reflec5on
Component Tasks Development of MCMD
ArAcle search
and criAque
Search for and write reflec5on about
teaching or learning mathema5cs to
students who are culturally different
than themselves
Self-‐awareness by iden5fying their own
culture and comparing to others.
Openness by learning culturally relevant
strategies.
Openness by learning how others do
mathema5cs.
Class discussion Share cultures and strategies
discussed in ar5cle.
Define culture and create cultural
tool list.
Discuss how culture relates to
mathema5cs classrooms.
Discuss stereotypes.
Openness by learning from peers.
Self-‐awareness/self-‐reflec5veness by
reflec5ng on personal experiences in the
mathema5cs classrooms.
Post-‐discussion
reflecAon
Write reflec5on on unit Openness and self-‐awareness as defined
above.
Commitment by encouraging them to
adopt culturally relevant strategies.
Article Critique Preservice teachers are interested in the following cultures: Black/African
American, Hispanic/La5no, English language learner, Low SES, Japanese, Indian, Rural White, Eskimo, and Aboriginal. Some of their ar5cles discussed mul5ple cultures.
Journals they explored included: Black Issues in Higher Educa5on Educa5onal Leadership Interven5on in School & Clinic, Journal of American Indian Educa5on, Journal of Learning Disabili5es, Mathema5cs Teacher, Mul5cultural Educa5on, NCTM 1997 Yearbook on Equity, PME-‐NA Proceedings, Teaching Children Mathema5cs Urban Review.
Kola Nut Activity
The kola nut offering is an aged cultural tradi5on that is prac5ced in some West African socie5es.
The offering is a symbol of welcome, peace, and hospitality to guests.
We welcome you to this conversa5on to be conducted in a peaceful and posi5ve manner.
(Ukpokodu, 2002)
Culture is the consistent ways in which people experience, interpret, and respond to the world around them; It represents the “ways of being” of a collec5ve popula5on…
[E]lements of culture include: food, language, music, and beliefs about good and evil… Culture is a feature of all human groups and is shaped by historical, social, poli5cal, economic, and even geographical factors.
Addi5onally, culture is oWen reinforced (posi5vely) through our contacts with societal ins5tu5ons. Whether we experience such reinforcement, however, largely depends on the status posi5on of the cultural group to which we belong.
Marshall (2002)
What is culture?
Culture is learned, therefore it is adaptable and vulnerable to changes.
Substan5ve cultural changes rarely occur quickly or easily.
Through conscious (and sub-‐conscious) resistance, people tend to defend and protect their culture.
Our own cultural ways of being tend to strike us as ordinary, usual, and normal. Consequently, we are oWen oblivious to the peculiari5es of our own culture.
It is not uncommon for other people’s cultural ways of being to strike us as quaint, strange, or even pathological.
Marshall (2002)
A few common features of culture…
Cultural Tool list: What is your culture?
On the handout, create a cultural tool list by lis5ng ten elements of your culture. These are the things that define who you are and how you see the world.
Let’s share our cultures.
2 Preservice Teachers’ Tool lists
Preservice teachers’ cultures
Family
Geography
Religion
Personal traits and values
Poli5cs
Sharing our culture
What cultural elements do we share?
What cultural elements do we not share?
Have you ever been in a situa5on when you were part of the “other” culture? What did you do?
What cultures exist in mathema5cs classrooms?
Analysis: 3 Voices
The unit allows us to examine the different ways preservice teachers talk about issues of culture in mathema5cs educa5on.
Academic Voice – Ar5cle Cri5que
Informal/Conversa5ons Voice -‐ Class Discussions
Reflec5ve Voice – Post Reflec5on Paper
Each voice is heard because we are situa5ng them differently.
Openness
Everywhere you go, you will see a child who has a different ethnicity. I feel that it is incredibly important that I know and understand different techniques to help children of another culture relate to the mathema5cs that I will be teaching. As a teacher, my goal is to take children from where they are, and help them to move a linle farther in their educa5on. I also think that this ar5cle will help me to think outside the box a linle.
June
Self Awareness/ Self Reflectiveness
I have not felt the oppression that all of these minority groups have endured in the United States. Although I am a female, I feel as though minority groups oWen encounter many more roadblocks and nega5ve stereotypes than women do.
)
I feel that because classmates and I were Caucasian, many of our teachers assumed we could handle the work load that we were given, even if some of us were not academically adept in that regard.
Commitment
As a future teacher, I will try to be pa5ent with my students and try to communicate mathema5cal concepts to them in terms that are culturally appropriate for the group of students.
Karen
As I read the ar5cle, I thought back to myself about learning math in elementary school and I feel that these ac5vi5es would have really benefited me as a learner. I plan to use one or some of these ac5vi5es in my future classroom. Judy
An Exercise in Coding Construct Indicators
Openness TL-‐ Open to learn strategies to teach math to culturally diverse students. D-‐ Open to the idea that different cultures may think about and do mathema5cs differently from you. I-‐ Open to include culture in math classrooms. V-‐ See the value of using culturally relevant strategies to teach math.
Self-‐Awareness/ Self-‐Reflec5veness
AC-‐ Awareness of ones membership in a collec5ve or community AP-‐ Awareness of their personal culture beyond recognizing that they are different than others AM Awareness of their own beliefs about: • Culture in teaching and learning mathema5cs • Mathema5cs classroom culture they have experienced, (ME) CS Thinks cri5cally about the intersec5on of various culture such as teacher’s culture, students’ culture, classroom’s culture, and school’s culture.
Commitment Commined to using CR teaching and/or using CR strategies
Conclusions and Implications
Preservice teachers need direc5on to understand “no culture is monolithic;” and that they, along with their students, will create a classroom culture that either supports or hinders student learning of mathema5cs.
For the most part, however, the discussion reinforces my no&ons that we teach to diversity everyday, no maDer who is in our classes. Even if our students are all Caucasian, all from middle-‐class homes, and all labeled average learners, they are not the same. They learn differently, they enjoy different ac&vi&es, and they each have different strengths that they can contribute to the classroom.
Conclusions and Implications
Cri5cal reflec5on and discussion influenced preservice teachers understanding of the role of culture.
Mathema5cs teacher educators must explicitly tackle issues of culture, diversity, and stereotypes in methods courses to develop PSTs’ MCMD.
The cultural-‐awareness unit provides a reasonable star5ng point for the iden5fica5on and development of produc5ve prac5ces and habits of mind in cohorts of preservice teachers.
Let’s Talk: Questions we are exploring
In what ways can we use the data to characterize the PSTs’ MCMD?
What are PSTs’ MCMD in various contexts?
In what ways do MCMD influence classroom instruc5on and learning?
How can we measure MCMD?
How do you balance teaching mathema5cs content and pedagogy while also teaching about culture?
Let’s Talk
Ques5ons and Sugges5ons Help
Thank You!!
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