This Week at Global Math – 6/16/2020







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Edited By Nate Goza  @thegozaway

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Online Professional Development Sessions

Tonight!

Math Workshop in Synchronous Online Classes

Presented by Theresa Wills

How do you continue your small group collaboration and discussion while teaching online? Through math workshop of course. Learn how to implement math workshop in the synchronous online classroom. Create small group interactive experiences that give every student a voice. Give students the agency to own their learning through choice of differentiated activities. Learn quick and easy technology strategies that work across multiple computer platforms to meet the needs of all learners.

To join us at 9:00 PM EST for this webinar click here!

Next Week 

Revolution is Needed in High School Geometry

Presented by Dr. Jenny Tsankova

Dr. Jenny Tsankova will present an argument in favor of changing the way we communicate to students the following essential ideas: 1) the idea of proof, 2) the language of Geometry, and 3) the traditional topics we teach, such as constructing the perpendicular bisector. The goal is for the mathematical ideas to be accessible to all students, connected to other mathematical ideas, and embedded in relevant context without sacrificing the cognitive demand.

Register ahead of time by clicking here!

You can always check out past and upcoming Global Math Department webinars. Click here for the archives or get the webinars in podcast form!

More From GMD

2021 and Beyond

By: Hema Khodai

I have been a (sporadic) writer for the Global Math Department Newsletter for a year now. When I started I was very self-conscious about entering a new maths space and weary of navigating another set of relationships with folx I had never met. I was unsure about my writing; technique, content, tone, audience, … all of it. Additionally, I hyper focused on how my pieces would be received. I had no sense of reach and no way to gage reactions outside of the five people that faithfully read my pieces and commented on them. My unarticulated purpose was to push the boundaries of comfort for mathematics educators and my articulated fear was of offending the same community I sought to belong to. It’s nearly impossible to write under this level of stress.

So, I redirect my focus to the perspective I bring to the newsletter through connections to Canadian contexts and prepare to lift my voice to speak messages that center students. But I remain anxious, unknowing how I by way of my writing will be received. 

As I write this piece, I imagine children sitting in spaces of mathematics education and draw parallels to weary students in a maths class that feels foreign; impenetrable. Unsure. Uneasy. Anxious. Insecure.  

Last week @GlobalMathDept issued a statement and meetings are already scheduled to organize and plan concrete actions in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement. There is a deep exhale that occurs when a community you are a part of takes a bold stance against anti-Black racism. The writers of this statement agonized over every word and phrase to attend to the precision of their commitment. They grappled with their feelings and intentions but instead of languishing in them they take a purposeful step in the direction of the impact they want to have. It is a breath of fresh air, a moment of relief that I do not have to endure and persist alone. It is the single tear that escapes as I finally allow myself to feel the sheer exhaustion of the last few weeks, months, years, decades, lifetimes, … let’s face it – four centuries.

So, I return to the mental image of children sitting at desks, swallowing down the bile that accompanies microaggressions, suppressing the sting of a thousand daily cuts, numb from rejections both public and private, frozen in terror by the news of brutality, violence, lynchings, and death that swirls about them. The children that sit at desks waiting for acknowledgement of their continual state of pain and grief. 

For the love of mathematics, say something. 

Reflecting From a Distance
 
We are pleased to announce our new YouTube Channel where we will be posting our webinars and other GMD related content. We are working to add more webinars from the archives!

We are also using the channel to host “Reflecting From a Distance: Sharing Lessons Learned and Reflecting on the 2020 Transition to Remote Learning.” We’d like you to get involved! Check out this blog post and the tweet/thread below from Jennifer White (@JennSWhite) for more information and to sign up to share!

GMD Newsletter Breaks for Summer

This will be the final edition of the Global Math Department Newsletter for the year.  We would like to take a moment to thank all of our subscribers for joining us in learning from the world of math education this year.

Over the summer we will be working to build action plans to support the efforts listed in our Solidarity Statement, with specific regard to math education and anti-racist practices.

We wish you all the best during the break and look forward to returning in August stronger than ever.

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This Week at Global Math – 6/9/20







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Edited By Casey McCormick  @cmmteach

View this email in your browser

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Online Professional Development Sessions

Tonight!


Global Mathematics: An Elective Mathematics Class for ALL Students

Presented by 

Dave Ebert

This session will describe how one school created an elective course, Global Mathematics, that helps students understand and critique the world while also experiencing wonder, joy, and beauty. This course engages students at every ability level through the study of the history of mathematics and the usefulness of mathematics to address global, regional, and local issues.

To join us at 9:00 PM EST for this webinar click here!

Next Week 


Math Workshop in Synchronous Online Classes

Presented by 

Theresa Wills

How do you continue your small group collaboration and discussion while teaching online? Through math workshop of course. Learn how to implement math workshop in the synchronous online classroom. Create small group interactive experiences that give every student a voice. Give students the agency to own their learning through choice of differentiated activities. Learn quick and easy technology strategies that work across multiple computer platforms to meet the needs of all learners.

Register for the webinar here, and join us next week!

You can always check out past and upcoming Global Math Department webinars. Click here for the archives or get the webinars in podcast form!

From the World of Math Ed

Looking Back and Looking Forward



At the 2018 NCTM Annual Meeting, Danny Bernard Martin gave the Iris M. Carl Equity Address, titled “Taking a Knee in Mathematics Education.” Toward the end of the talk, in response to an audience question, Martin spoke about the phenomenon of “solution on demand.” Solution on demand is when, once racism is surfaced, the response is to ask a person of color what to do and how to solve it. Martin wrote on this topic in a 2009 paper:

“Such a demand not only trivializes the complexities of race, racism, and racialization, but also the experiences of those affected. In essence, it is a way to retreat from race and resists the realities of racism by reducing the harms to simple problems with simple solutions. My hesitancy to provide a specific answer is not meant to suggest that no solutions exist. But top-down, externally generated solutions that are not responsive to the needs and conditions of the context in question are unlikely to have a meaningful effect” (304).

I am a white teacher, and I am sitting with both the urgency of action and the necessity of doing my own internal work to better understand racism in America. I am also trying to remember that people of color have been doing the work for a long time, and there are already lots of places to learn without burdening people of color who are doing the most right now. Martin’s session is absolutely worth revisiting. Looking outside the world of math education, I enjoyed rewatching this panel of Black YA authors talking about justice, resistance, and positive representation. The panel is also from 2018 and is another reminder that the work is not new, no matter how many people have shown up for the first time in the last two weeks.

(thanks to Marian Dingle for sharing the video)



In addition to doing my internal work, I am thinking about how to make change in my school, within my sphere of influence. I’m rereading Paul Gorski’s article “Avoiding Racial Equity Detours.”  The detour I see most in my school is what Gorski calls “Pacing-for-Privilege.” He writes, “In too many schools, the pace of equity progress prioritizes the comfort and interests of people who have the least interest in that progress” (57). I want to practice speaking up to prioritize equity for students, rather than comfort for adults. What detours do you see in your school, and where can you exert your influence?

Finally, I want to share Jose Vilson’s most recent blog post, “Black Teachers Are Good For More Than Race Stuff.”  As education communities decide to do more to center justice and equity, we are at risk of essentializing Black educators as equity workers. Jose reminds us: “Let me lay this to rest. Black teachers can be experts at their given content area and its pedagogies, not just as delegates for our entire race and their experiences.”



Written by Dylan Kane

#MathPhoto20

The Math Photo Challenge is a series of 10 weekly photo prompts posted to Twitter. Each week, participants take photos inspired by that week’s prompt and then share them on Twitter using the hashtag #MathPhoto20. This challenge is a fun way to interact with teachers, students, family members and others. Anyone can check out the collection of photos on Twitter by searching the hashtag #MathPhoto20 or at the website https://mathphoto20.wordpress.com/ organized by Carl Oliver (@carloliwitter). This year’s photo challenge will start on Thursday, June 11th. Anyone can join in at any time.

 

 

This is the sixth year of the Math Photo Challenge. The first year was organized by Malke Rosenfeld (@mathinyourfeet) with assistance and contributions from the #MTBoS.

The Math Photo Challenge is about the intersection of mathematics, mathematics education, and the world we see around us. Photos of this intersection cause us to reflect on how the lens that we view the world through allows us to see it differently. To start week 1 of #MathPhoto20 this year will be challenging you to look at the world with an anti-racist lens and reflect on #BlackLivesMatter.  



Written by Erik Lee

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This Week at Global Math – 6/2/2020







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Edited By Chase Orton  @mathgeek76

View this email in your browser

Tweet
Forward

Online Professional Development Sessions

Tonight!

Revolution is Needed in High School Geometry

Presented by Dr. Jenny Tsankova

Dr. Jenny Tsankova will present an argument in favor of changing the way we communicate to students the following essential ideas: 1) the idea of proof, 2) the language of Geometry, and 3) the traditional topics we teach, such as constructing the perpendicular bisector. The goal is for the mathematical ideas to be accessible to all students, connected to other mathematical ideas, and embedded in relevant context without sacrificing the cognitive demand.

To join us at 9:00 PM EST for this webinar click here!

Next Week 

Global Mathematics: An Elective Mathematics Class for ALL Students

Presented by Dave Ebert

This session will describe how one school created an elective course, Global Mathematics, that helps students understand and critique the world while also experiencing wonder, joy, and beauty. This course engages students at every ability level through the study of the history of mathematics and the usefulness of mathematics to address global, regional, and local issues.

Register ahead of time by clicking here!

You can always check out past and upcoming Global Math Department webinars. Click here for the archives or get the webinars in podcast form!

From the World of Math Ed

Closing Thoughts without Closure

This is my last Global Math Department newsletter contribution for the 2019-2020 academic year, which is wrapping up in much of the United States. I’m proud of the newsletters I’ve written this year, and ways in which I have been more involved at GMD (including managing the Twitter account since April 22). To this end, I want to shout out all the GMD contributors – past and present – as all work has been foundational to pushing further forward in thought and action.

Four closing items, which I will briefly name so that you can read, scroll, or avoid as desired:

  1. Nepantla Teachers Community posts;
  2. Opposition to proposed anti-Chinese legislation that targets graduate students in STEM;
  3. Seattle Public Schools and the continued pushback against their wonderful Ethnic Studies Framework;
  4. Three online happenings over the summer.

First, check out the Student Voices in Remote Learning series from the Nepantla Teachers Community.

See also their Statement of Solidarity with Communities of Color:

Pay attention to which organizations and institutions are speaking out at this time — and which ones aren’t — and be sure to hold them accountable. In this sense, the Global Math Department, followed by over five thousand math educators, cannot be seen as exempt, even as it has not issued analogous statements in the past. Look out for something to come from GMD, and hold us accountable thereafter!

Second, note the beginning of public-facing political stances taken by GMD in the following tweet about Sinophobic, xenophobic, and racist legislation proposed around Chinese graduate students working in STEM:

Third, be sure to read Shraddha Shirude’s post borne from the continued pushback against the Great Work done on Seattle’s Ethnic Studies Framework, as well as related tweets from Xi Yu and others.

Fourth, and finally, this is shaping up to be a summer in which we need to strengthen ourselves. For some, this means digitally disconnecting after too many Zoom calls, too many emails, too many videos that autoplay without trigger warnings, and, more generally, too much of too much. Do not burn yourself out!

For others and/or at other times, there are a number of webinars, conferences, seminars, and various forms of professional development (so to speak) that may reinvigorate. To mention just three:

Even without upcoming newsletters, I can be pinged (on Twitter or otherwise) if there is something in or adjacent to the worlds of mathematics education that you believe should be amplified. I’ve recently been thinking about math trails (related thoughts very welcome!) and will likely be on the grid for most of the summer.

And, in case you haven’t heard/read it recently enough: Black Lives Matter.

– Benjamin Dickman [@benjamindickman]

Moving the #MTBOS toward Anti-Racism
 

The murder of George Floyd served as a tipping point for many in the nation struggling to process the recent deaths of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaudd Arbery. These three murders involved three different people in three different parts of the country. One constant in all of these cases was a response from police and the criminal justice system which implied that their lives did not matter.  

As we look for ways to move forward, all of us in the #MTBoS and #iteachmath community need to engage in anti-racist discourse and actions. This will be a challenge for our group of largely white educators. The following tweets may be helpful resources for white educators in our community looking for more actionable steps to further this anti-racist discourse. 

Symbolic actions such as officers Portland Police taking a knee with protestors deliver hope that we can bridge our racial divisions, but it’s only a first step. (Check out Julie Wright’s, @julierwright, retweet of the video.) Likewise, our actions in this moment must be followed by sustained efforts to dismantle racist policies and practices at our schools and in our math classrooms.
 
-Carl Oliver @carloliwitter
 

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