MS Mathematics Newsletter

Issue #1

RACIAL EQUITY

What does racial equity look like in math classrooms? How do we balance mathematics instruction while ensuring racial equity? These are questions continue to explore and define. It is important to keep in mind the design of our standards. In order to achieve deeper learning in mathematics we must have a balance between conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application.

Zarretta Hammond defines the dimensions of equity in figure 2. Conceptual Understanding and Procedural Fluency rely on a positive mathematical community. Culturally Responsive Education focuses on these two components. Mathematics Application connects to the Multicultural and Social Justice Education dimensions of equity.

When using the ARE Tool and thinking about racial equity in mathematics we need to consider the component of math instruction and its dimension. This will help narrow down the focus and what resources you will consider. When thinking of Multicultural and Social Justice Education consider thinking of your unit project to begin implementing these dimensions.

Examples:

Develop a monthly budget for a person on minimum wage and compare to other salaries
Density of groceries in rish vs. poor communities and connection to health
Create a tessalation and provide examples of African Fractals, Islamic Tesselations, and Origami

Health Equity Report

2017 Health Equity Report: Uncovering the Root Causes of Our Health

louisvilleky.gov

Google Sheets: Sign-in

Access Google Sheets with a free Google account (for personal use) or G Suite account (for business use).

docs.google.com

Home

storyofmathematics.com

CULTURE AND CLIMATE

Here are a few examples of how to build your classroom community:

High and Low for the week - students and teacher share their high for the week and their low for the week
Lunch (coffee, snack, etc.) with the Teacher
What Doesn’t Belong with a Twist - students find four pictures that describe themselves and other students try to guess the student

BACKPACK OF SUCCESS SKILLS

Effective mathematics instruction uses a balanced approach that incorporates conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application. If we split the 175 student days evenly amongst the components, each component would get about 58 days. This means we cannot rely on the application to supply all of our backpack artifacts.

How can we capitalize on the conceptual understanding and procedural fluency to provide backpack artifacts? Think about the following items: