GOAL 1: Differentiate instruction for all students.
GOAL 2: Teach mathematics in a way that is engaging and relevant for students of diverse backgrounds.
GOAL 3: Develop students who are problem-solvers and questioners.
At the time of beginning my MAED program, I had taught credit recovery in the Detroit neighborhood referred to as “Mexicantown”, worked with refugee students in Lansing, and student-taught in rural Owosso, Michigan. Despite the diversity of my students at the time of writing these goals, I had a naive understanding of differentiation; each individual population of students was relatively homogenous, in both culture and mathematical knowledge. Since beginning my master’s degree, I have taught two years of 7th and 8th grade math in Washington, DC. In my classroom, I have had students who came to me anywhere between a 2nd and an 8th grade level of mathematical knowledge; students who have never wanted for anything in their lives and students who were homeless; students who read on a college level and students who speak no English at all.
Given the diversity of my students, culturally relevant mathematics both was and remains one of my primary objectives when developing lessons. Mathematics has too long been the subject of “Why are we learning this? When will I use this in the real world?” Traditional textbooks often put the cart before the horse, creating inauthentic contexts to match the mathematics in that chapter. In these problems, students know exactly what strategies to use, because the rest of the page is rote procedural practice. This results in students learning to view mathematics as similarly inauthentic and as an obstacle in their path, rather than as a tool to understand the world around them and overcome the true obstacles they face.
Instead of fitting the context to the mathematics, I believe in teaching my students to identify and shape the mathematics to understand questions that matter to them. Students are natural-born skeptics and questioners, and the modern cultural and political environment uniquely place them as believers in social justice. We should use mathematics to understand and propose solutions for the questions and problems that are meaningful to them, using the standards and required content to support us in this mission.
I do not believe that I have yet mastered these goals, but I have progressed significantly toward them and have refined my understanding of each. As I come to the close of my MAED program, I will continue to devote myself toward each of these missions, but I would also redefine my primary aim as a singular goal: for my students to leave my classroom seeing themselves as capable and belonging in mathematics. My original goals are necessary components of this refined aspiration, but it is also more than the sum of the three. For a student to see herself as belonging in mathematics, she needs to also feel welcomed into my classroom, valued by her peers, and necessary to the construction of ideas, theories, and knowledge. My mission is supported by differentiation, cultural relevance, and authentic problem-solving, but also by the evolution of growth mindsets, co-creation of classroom norms, and development of a community.
"Focus on the journey, not on arriving at a certain destination." - Chris Hadfield