This semester has been eventful; my research interest has been tweaking and focusing more on mathematics educator identities and the identities available for students in reflective mathematics classroom discourse. It's interesting to listen to conversations surrounding student math conceptualization in differing learning environments, be it Holland's et al. (1998) figured worlds or Tate's (2008) geospatial factors. My interest in and about figured worlds is due to differential learning outcomes witnessed across the USA or even in my home country Kenya (Anderson & Ritter, 2020). I have always wondered why math educators given the same training and students at the same level would produce different results.
I have appreciated Yackel and Cobb's (1996) observation that we can not separate an individual's learning from their social and cultural interactions. I also find Holland's et al. (1998) argument about socioeconomic, sociopolitical, cultural, and ideological backgrounds helpful in understanding Rubin (2007) and Urieta (2007) as they explicate how other discourses affect in-class discourses. Hogrebe and Tate's (2012) and Duncan-Andrade & Morrell, 2008 work point to racialized social and political systems that have failed to differentiate learning opportunities. Fonger (2021) joined Kendi (2019); Levya (2021); and Berry et al., 2015 in calls to dismantle whiteness and patriarchy in mathematics learning and doing space. Through Fonger's work with the antiracist algebra coalition of changing educators' perception of black students, I see the sense of Graven and Heyd-Metzuyanim (2019); and Shabtay and Heyd-Metzuyanim (2019) as framed from Holland's et al. (1998) and Shulman's (1986) works in preparing novice educators' professional identities.
My exploration over the semester has helped to ground me in the humanistic theoretical framework situating mathematics teacher education at the core of classroom discourse. While students are the focus of knowledge development through humanist lenses, educators' professional identities are essential in availing learning and struggling opportunities for the students.
I have explored classroom discourse from student and teacher identities, math classroom norms, math educator development, and how all these might impact classroom discourse. I find this progressive in my pursuit to understand the causes of differential learning and how figured identities could apply to its solution.
References
Anderson, K. P., & Ritter, G. W. (2020). Do school discipline policies treat students fairly? Evidence from Arkansas. Educational Policy, 34(5), 707-734.
Battey, D., & Leyva, L. A. (2016). A Framework for Understanding Whiteness in Mathematics Education. Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 9(2), 49-80.
Duncan-Andrade, J. M. R., & Morrell, E. (2008). The art of critical pedagogy: Possibilities for moving from theory to practice in urban schools (Vol. 285). Peter Lang.
Fonger, N. L. (2021). A Heart-Centered Stance: Receptivity to Algebra Teachers’ and Students’ Multidimensional Experiences. Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, 11(1), 225-264.
Graven, M., & Heyd-Metzuyanim, E. (2019). Mathematics identity research: The state of the art and future directions. ZDM, 51(3), 361-377.
Heyd-Metzuyanim, E., & Shabtay, G. (2019). Narratives of ‘good instruction: Teachers’ identities as drawing on exploration vs. acquisition pedagogical discourses. ZDM, 51(3), 541-554.
Hogrebe, M. C., & Tate IV, W. F. (2012). Geospatial perspective: Toward a visual political literacy project in education, health, and human services. Review of Research in Education, 36(1), 67-94.
Holland, D., Lachicotte Jr, W., Skinner, D., & Cain, C. (2001). Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Harvard University Press.
Kendi, I. X. (2019). How to be an antiracist. One world.
Leyva, L. A. (2021). Black women’s counter-stories of resilience and within-group tensions in the white, patriarchal space of mathematics education. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 52(2), 117-151.
Rubin, B. C. (2007). Learner identity amid figured worlds: Constructing (in) competence at an urban high school. The Urban Review, 39(2), 217-249.
Shulman, L. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard educational review, 57(1), 1-23.
Tate, W. F. (2008). Putting the" Urban" in mathematics education scholarship. Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 1(1), 5-9.
Urrieta, L. (2007). Identity production in figured worlds: How some Mexican Americans become Chicana/o activist educators. The Urban Review, 39(2), 117-144.
Yackel, E., & Cobb, P. (1996). Sociomathematical norms, argumentation, and autonomy in mathematics. Journal for research in mathematics education, 27(4), 458-477.
The ground we must cover as educators to make learning happen in our classes