Equity & Inclusion Newsletter

February 2021 - Edition 6

February Read Aloud Video

While Black history is history that belongs in each month, this newsletter is dedicated to the honoring of Black History Month in February. The book selected to share in the video below is one of many incredible texts that focus on Black brilliance. It "spans continents and centuries, triumph and heartbreak, creativity and joy," as well as liberation and civic engagement, all of which need to be lifted up in the teaching and learning of Black history (Workman Publishing, 2020).

In this video, 5 fifth-grade students from LMES and Ms.Gaffney, their 5th grade Writing teacher, volunteered as guest readers to share the book The ABCs of Black History by Rio Cortez, illustrated by Lauren Semmer. This book is recommended by the publisher for ages 5-99!

Note: This read aloud is being shared with the permission of Workman Publishing.

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Read

This article focuses on the importance of including the full human experience in teaching and learning around Black history and may be useful to families and educators alike.

For children: this link will bring you to an extensive virtual library of children's books honoring Black lives by school librarians!

Source: Coshandra Dillard, 2019

Photo source: Loyola Marymount University

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Watch

A Conversation with Fred Gray (1/12/21)

"Fred Gray opened his law practice in Montgomery, Alabama in 1954 with the mission of "destroying everything segregated I could find." One year later, this rookie lawyer represented his friend Rosa Parks and Dr. King in the Montgomery Bus protests. That led to a career of landmark cases defeating segregation throughout Alabama...Gray also describes his representation of Claudette Colvin, the 15-year-old who was arrested on a Montgomery bus nine months before Rosa Parks; his securing an acquittal of Dr. King by an all-white jury in Montgomery of criminal charges of tax evasion...and many other historically significant matters."

Source: OLLI - The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Berkshire Community College

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Listen

Spotify's Black History Month Podcast Playlist "commemorates the heroes — like the woman who fought for the honorific "miss" — and explores the continued struggles — why housing segregation is still happening — in these episodes from NPR's Code Switch podcast"

Source: Spotify & NPR, 2020

Bulletin board created by Ms. Kellerman's Kindergarten Class at GES

Recent Work: Elementary Spotlight

Eleven elementary classrooms have recently participated in a lesson series called The Mathematicians Project, co-taught by classroom teachers and co-designed by Annie Smith, K-4 Math Coach, and Erin Birden, Teacher in Residence for Diversity and Cultural Competency. We were even graced with visits from some students' families to highlight the ways in which students' own family members apply mathematics in their lives.

This series is grounded in the question “who is a mathematician?” It involved reflection on, and building of, positive math identity. It also included building awareness and recognition of implicit bias, cultivating math mindset, and emphasizing the importance of representation in mathematics. Importantly, we focused on expanding understanding of who mathematicians are and how they impact the world.

Here is an overview of the series:

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What Are Students’ Conceptions of Who a Mathematician Is?

Students begin by unearthing their initial conceptions of who a mathematician is through drawing. We analyzed trends that emerged from those drawings independently, in conversation with small groups, and as a class.

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Math Identity

In this session, we asked students to build on their drawings to now consider how they see themselves in mathematics. Students were introduced to the word bias as a preference of one person, idea, or group of people over another, and that we might not even be aware of them. We explained that biases can limit our thinking. We hope in these lessons that students foster an unlimited view of themselves and others in mathematics. They then engaged in Math Identity interviews with a partner to dig in to their attitudes, self-perceptions, preferences, and interests related to mathematics.

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Deepening Our Conceptions of Who Mathematicians Are

We shared an image of a window and a mirror with students to launch this session, explaining that we’d like for them to have both in mathematics (based on Rudine Sims Bishop's foundational work). It is important that students see themselves reflected in important ways in math (mirror) and that their worldview on who can be a mathematician is not limited in any way (window). Students selected a mathematician to research to celebrate the brilliance of historically excluded mathematicians.

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Anika studied Dr. Patricia Bath!

Learn about Patricia Bath here.

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Jayden studied Kelvin Doe!

Learn about Kelvin Doe here.

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Ava studied Margaret Hamilton!

Learn about Margaret Hamilton here.

After researching, students created a Flipgrid video to share their learning with classmates. This way, there is a curated collection of research conducted by classmates on a range of mathematicians - 85 videos created by students currently! In this culminating activity, students reflected on how their thinking shifted or evolved over the course of this series to revise their construct of who a mathematician is, what they do, and how mathematics impacts the world around us (e.g. I used to think...but now I realize…).