Cultivating Mathematical Hearts

Maria del Rosario Zavala is an American-born daughter of Peruvian immigrants, a mother, and an Associate Professor of Elementary Education at San Francisco State University. She studied mathematics at the University of California, Santa Cruz almost(!) became a high school math teacher, before working in elementary education. Across her 20+ career in education, she has worked in classrooms across the K-12 spectrum, and supported teachers’ professional learning in a variety of contexts. During her PhD in Education with a focus on Learning Sciences at the University of Washington, she became interested in ethnomathematics and social justice mathematics, and in particular how topics like these can make mathematics classrooms welcoming spaces for Latinx students and other historically marginalized populations. In addition to work on the role of racial and other socially constructed identities in learning mathematics, a large part of her research agenda includes defining, expanding, and evolving ideas of culturally responsive mathematics teaching (CRMT) – in particular the impact of CRMT on both teachers and students. Maria believes mathematics teaching and learning are creative endeavors. She has unequivocal faith in teachers, and the power of teachers, parents, and community members working together to make schools places worthy of our children.  Julia Maria Aguirre is a biracial Chicana activist math education scholar and teacher educator. Her parents were educators and activists integrating faith, community, and justice growing up. Dr. Aguirre is a Professor of Education at the University of Washington Tacoma. Her work focuses on critical equity studies in mathematics education, teacher education, and culturally responsive mathematics pedagogy. She has taught mathematics in formal and informal classroom settings. A primary goal of her work is preparing new generations of teachers to make mathematics education accessible, meaningful and relevant to today’s youth. Dr. Aguirre welcomes all to join her in cultivating a more humanizing and just mathematics education.

Zavala and Aguirre should be commended for their take on what it means to be a culturally responsive mathematics teacher. This book positions mathematics teachers as identity workers. The vignettes and teaching stories bring the Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching Tool to life. Zavala and Aguirre graciously share their thoughts about how to implement this framework in a variety of settings, including elementary, special education, and multilingual contexts.

• PrefaceAcknowledgementsAbout the AuthorsPart 1: Foundations and Framework of Culturally Responsive Mathematics TeachingChapter 1: Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching: Purpose and PrinciplesChapter 2: Unpacking Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching: Retooling Your PedagogyChapter 3: Knowledges and IdentitiesChapter 4: Rigor and SupportChapter 5: Power and ParticipationPart 2: Culturally Responsive Math Teaching in Elementary ClassroomsChapter 6: Using CRMT to Adapt a First Grade District-Created Lesson By Holly Tate and Olivia CanningChapter 7: Using CRMT to Transform a Fourth-Grade Mathematics Classroom Over Time By Holly Tate and Kaitlin KaplewiczChapter 8: Corazones Matemáticas: CRMT in Bilingual Classrooms By Melissa Adams CorralChapter 9: CRMT in Special Education Spaces By Talya Kemper and Maria del Rosario ZavalaEpilogueAppendix: The Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching Tool (CRMT2)References