2014 Conference
Download the 2014 program (PDF)
The Beauty of Mayan Numbers: A lesson that relevant culturally and rigorous mathematically
Charles Snyder, chsnyder36@gmail.com
City Arts and Tech High School
This interactive session will begin by briefly introducing ancient number systems including those used in Roman and Babylonian cultures. The idea of zero as a conceptual breakthrough will then turn the session to Mayan numbers and a sample lesson (materials included) that engages students of all levels of middle, high school and higher education will be featured. It will conclude with a discussion of how contemporary number systems that are alternative to base-10 can be used to strengthen numeracy and algebraic representation skills.
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
Reflections on Exploring Computer Science and Creating New Futures for Historically Marginalized Students
Clifford Lee, chl3@stmarys-ca.edu
Cueponcaxochtil D. Moreno Sandoval, cueponcaxochitl@asu.edu
Jean Ryoo, jjryoo@gmail.com
Odette DeConge’ Board, oaboard@gmail.com
St. Mary’s College of California
Building on Jane Margolis’s keynote presentation on equity and Computer Science, this panel brings together current Exploring Computer Science (ECS) teachers, coaches, students and former students from LAUSD. They will complement Margolis’s theoretical and empirical research with concrete examples and reflections from their practice. Audience members will have an opportunity to learn about the challenges and successes from the perspectives of those that taught the lessons, as well as those that receive it.
Intended Audience: Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Youth, Parents, Community Activists, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
Attending to Student Motivation Through Critical Practice to Improve Students’ Algebra Learning
Rahila Simzar, M.Ed., M.A. (Doctoral student) rmunshi@uci.edu
University of California, Irvine
How can educators apply motivationally adaptive pedagogy to their teaching practice? Is the intersection of motivation research and critical practice the key to increasing students’ equity in access and success in the mathematics gatekeeper course, Algebra? This workshop will provide teachers with the foundational knowledge of motivation research and motivationally adaptive teaching tools that are grounded in critical practice and social justice agendas to increase student success in Algebra. Attendees will leave with the knowledge of contemporary motivational frameworks, an understanding of national movement and progress around Algebra policy, and a toolbox for creating critically inspired motivationally adaptive math classrooms!
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
Youth Citizen Design: A Social Justice Pedagogy for Teaching Design Thinking
Sepehr Vakil, sepehr.vakil@gmail.com
Sarah Van Wart, Tapan Parikh, vanwars@gmail.com, parikh@berkeley.edu
UC Berkeley/REALM
In this workshop we will present a new pedagogical framework, Youth Citizen Design, for teaching design thinking that encourages social justice and civic engagement. Design pedagogies are usually rooted in cognitive theories of design thinking. Youth Citizen Design offers a framework for teaching that is rooted in a sociocultural and situated understanding of design. Additionally, Youth Citizen Design centers civic engagement and technology within the design process. This workshop will engage teachers and students in design activity that is part of the pedagogical framework, provoking discussion and brainstorming around teaching at the intersection of design, technology, and civic engagement.
Intended Audience: High School Teachers, Youth, Community Activists, Graduate Students
They can’t learn OUR math…..Teaching the African American Learner
Michelle Cody, michellealexandria.cody@gmail.com
Erin Hartfield, erinh393@gmail.com
Aptos Middle School/University of San Francisco
In this session, we will talk about the current mathematical climate for young African American students, the perceptions of the new racial identities (black students can’t) and how that affects the student’s ability to perform. We will give session participants strategies for redefining student relationships with math as well as provide examples of culturally responsive lessons.
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Parents, Community Activists, Graduate Students
Preservice Teachers in Action: Teaching Elementary Students Mathematics Using Social Justice Contexts
Joan Kwako, jkwako@d.umn.edu
James Clayton, jclayton@saintpeters.edu
University of Minnesota Duluth
In this session we will share the rewards and challenges preservice teachers (PSTs) faced when implementing social justice mathematics lessons in their elementary classrooms. Through videos of PSTs teaching in third and fifth grade classrooms, participants will see how the PSTs overcame what they perceived were the barriers to using contexts such as racial profiling, poverty, access to clean water, and rBGH in milk when teaching mathematics. In addition, elementary PSTs at a significantly different college share their own views of the videos and how they would need to adapt the lessons to fit their own diverse groups of students.
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, Youth, Parents, Community Activists, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
Modeling Home: What’s Your Material World? (part of the Rethinking Mathematics strand)
Jana Dean, jdean@reachone.com
Jefferson Middle School
Middle schoolers in most schools feel crowded most of the time. Learn to connect middle schoolers’ experience with tight spaces to indoor living conditions around the world. By building scale model homes according to a random chance of birth, students reason in three-dimensions, practice important middle school ideas in ratio and measurement and think critically about what is a fair share of the earth’s resources. You will practice building and leave with the know-how and hand-outs to enact this project with your students. This session is based on a Rethinking Mathematics 2 article written by facilitator Jana Dean.
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers
Mathematics Serving the Community: Empowering Community Organizations with Youth Research
Brad Kohl, brad.kohl@breckschool.org
Amanda Zeidner, Leslie Hayes, Emily Colwell
Community-Based Research in Applied Mathematics empowers promising students, passionate for service, to use their math skills as pro bono mathematicians in a research initiative for nonprofit clients. As they cultivate a new lens for participants, student researchers will share their experiences and lead participants through activities and assessments they have created. Participants, with student leaders, will explore ways to create community-based research opportunities that support their own program needs, stakeholders, and core beliefs.
Intended Audience: High School Teachers, Youth, Community Activists, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
LottaFacts: A critical analysis of the state lottery through mathematics
(part of the Rethinking Mathematics strand)
Vivian Lim, viv.lim@gmail.com
Alex Cristando, Soledad Fernandez, Phiola McFarlane, Lauren Shookhoff, Mat Sullivan, acristando@gmail.com, sfernandez@newheightsacademy.org, bethechangeuwantoc@gmail.com, Lauren.shookhoff@gmail.com, matsull@gmail.com
City Digits, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
How does the lottery work? What is the probability of winning a prize? Is the lottery a regressive tax? In this session, high school mathematics teachers and students lead participants in sampling a place-based mathematics curriculum that focuses on these and other questions about the lottery. Participants will model aspects of the combinatorics involved in analyzing lottery games with manipulatives and analyze interactive digital maps that relate to the lottery. Presenters will showcase products created by high school students and facilitate a discussion about how this type of curriculum presents opportunities for students to think critically with mathematics.
Intended Audience: Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Youth, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
People’s Mathematics
Swapna Mukhopadhyay, swapna@pdx.edu
Brian Greer, brian1060ne@yahoo.com
Graduate School of Education, Portland State University
We will begin by introducing the concept of ethnomathematics, the mathematics of activities such as counting, locating, measuring, playing, designing, and explaining found in all cultures. Next we will present a framework for analyzing forms of mathematical activity, and generate and discuss examples for its the four categories. Then, drawing on the experience of the teachers present, we will consider how to enhance school mathematics with the ethnomathematical perspective, bearing in mind constraints on teacher autonomy, and how mathematics may be a tool for examining issues of importance to children and their communities, and the global citizens they will become.
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Community Activists, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
Mathematical Literacy or Assessment of Mathematical Literacy: The Dichotomy Between Mathematics Assessment and Social Stratification
Patrice Parker, pparker12@student.gsu.edu
Nathan Wisdom, nwisdom1@student.gsu.edu, Kori Maxwell, kmaxwell7@student.gsu.edu
Jason Hunter, jhunter5@student.gsu.edu, Alanna Johnson, ajohnson185@student.gsu.edu
Nathalie Smalls, Nsmalls1@student.gsu.edu
Georgia State University
Assessment is a complex construct that has been explored in depth by many scholars. However, it is still a primary gatekeeper to success in many areas including mathematics. This workshop will address the question “how can assessment be designed to effectively evaluate learners’ understanding of mathematics?” The participants of this session will engage in a critical conversation around definitions of knowledge, knowing, understanding and learning. Ultimately, a working framework of assessment will be created during this session.
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Parents, Community Activists, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
Error Analysis: Restorative Assessments For Reflection & Learning
Lucine Madatovian, lmadatovian@sjhumanitas.org
Social Justice Humanitas Academy
Mathematics is cumulative by nature and if students don’t grasp the early concepts, they will continue to struggle through the duration of the course. By providing an incentive (the opportunity to earn points back) and scaffolded questions designed to probe at misunderstandings, I use the process of error analysis to get students to reflect on their mistakes and learn from them, rather than casting their tests aside. Come learn about the process, hear first-hand from students how much they value the process and receive sample assessments and questions to help you get started on the process in your own classroom.
Intended Audience: Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
Bridging the Technology Divide: Free Tech Tools for Engaging Social Justice Math Lessons
Jeadi Vilchis, Jeadiv@gmail.com
Students from our communities often find it difficult to engage in math lessons and teachers find it difficult to use the technology accessible to them. Given these pressing issues, this workshop facilitated by female Year Up Bay Area students and their IT instructor will demonstrate engaging tech tools to use in your class. As of 2011 the National Center for Educational Statistics found the ratio of connected computers to students in urban classes to be 3:1. We will present math lessons using concrete data that reveal social justice inequalities in our communities via proven (and free) online tools. Some of the tools will be: Google Drive Spreadsheet and Forms, Poll Everywhere, Video Games/Gamification, and even how to create an interactive whiteboard for less than $50!
Intended Audience: Classroom teachers*, parents, students
*Teachers are highly encouraged to bring their own laptop or tablet.
Making the Argument for Centering Critical Pedagogyin Socially Just STEM Education for middle school, Urban African American Males
Jeremiah Sims, M.A., (PhD Candidate)
Sepehr Vakil, M.S., (Doctoral Student)
Kenyatta Weathersby, M.S.
Dr. Allison Scott, PhD
Vipul Gupta, M.Sc.
We want to discuss the potentially paradigm-shifting ways in which our out of school program, the Saturday Math and Science Honors Prep Academy (SMASH: Prep) has, arguably, created inroads and vistas for urban African American middle school males into STEM efficacy and the development of a positive STEM identity by alloying critical pedagogy, critical race theory, and emancipatory learning within and through a social justice-oriented, rigorous STEM curriculum. We are fledgling urban educators, for the most part; however, we feel like we may be on to something. The curricular approach that impels SMASH: Prep has resulted in our scholars beginning to contextual STEM. That is to say, they have begun appropriate and applying science, technology, engineering and math for issues that they identify as germane to their lived experiences. The middle school African American males “scholars” that attend SMASH: Prep have demonstrated, in a number of ways, that a rigorous STEM curriculum, predicated on critical pedagogy, can help them re-envisage their available identities not only as STEM practitioners, but more importantly as people who apply STEM for socially just local, National and potentially global improvement.
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Youth, Parents, Community Activists, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
Green Geometry: Designing a Sustainable Community
Susan Melgarejo-Torales, mathbruin@gmail.com
Jose Antonio Orozo, jaomath@gmail.com
In this session I will share a unit designed and taught in Highland Park CA. This unit culminates in a Geometry project that incorporates environmentally friendly strategies and information about sustainability and regeneration. We will also learn how to use Google Sketchup Software, Google Forms and GIS in the classroom. Finally, we will incorporate the use of “Asset Based Community Mapping” and “Needs Assessment” methods in the project. #lessonplan #handouts #technology
Intended Audience: High School Teachers
From User to Maker: Inspiring Diversity in Technical Careers and Engineering
Michael Conway, mconway5@gmail.com
Digital Remix Genius
How can we increase the quantity and diversity of students who achieve technical degrees, especially in engineering? This workshop will use a tuning protocol to present and solicit feedback on one approach to addressing the question. Digital Remix Genius (DRG) is a project in development that leverages young digital music producers’ passion for creativity to help them become the next generation of technological innovators. DRG aims to inspire these artists to move from technology users to makers by engaging them in wiring and programming their own synthesizers. Workshop participants will help design a movement for remixing the field of engineering.
Intended Audience: Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Youth, Parents, Community Activists, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students, Musicians, DIY electronics enthusiasts, programmers, lyricists
Techniques that build community, utilize writing, embed reflection and the search for errors in the mathematics classroom
Marla Mattenson, mattenson@gmail.com
University High School, LAUSD
Community is essential in the CCSS classroom. Students learn how to share, trust each other with structured feedback and engage in a collaboration of finding “errors”. Learn innovative methods for homework, classwork, and assessments that engage students in finding their own errors, reflecting and thinking critically about their work and the work of other students. Understand the rationale behind each method, the connection to the 8 Mathematical Practices from the Common Core, and how they give students multiple opportunities for comprehension and success. Students reflect on their own mistakes and master the math content with “2-Day Exams”.
Intended Audience: Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Parents
Transparency of Water
(part of the Rethinking Mathematics strand)
Selene Gonzalez-Carrillo, selenorama@gmail.com
TERC
Water, its costs and quality and potential for profit-making are measured in countless ways. But these calculations are often invisible as we go about our daily lives. In this workshop, we share how we delved into attitudes about tap water, the real costs of bottled water, and the potential for using municipal water quality reports. Join us as we share activities that function as a jumping off point for learning science, math, and the politics of water. The presenter, organizer, and educator Gonzalez-Carillo will speak to her experience scaffolding understanding for a diverse group of learners.
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, Youth, Parents, Community Activists, Afterschool workers
Technology and Youth Participatory Action Research
Mary Candace Full, marycandacefull@gmail.com
Jamie Gravell, jamiejosephson@gmail.com
UCLA
High school student facilitators, Humanitas Academy of Art and Technology High School
With the imminent implementation of the nationwide Common Core State Standards and the utilization of technology to support the standards, it is essential that we ask: What do the youth have to say? In this workshop, high school students from the East side of Los Angeles will discuss their experiences with and progress on original, quantitative research on school technology. Then, the youth will facilitate a discussion on centering young people as critical voices in technology reform.
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Youth, Parents, Community Activists, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
Supporting Mathematical Reasoning and Literacy Using Graph Stories
Sunanda Kushon,sunandakushon@gmail.com
Jaime Park, japark@gseis.ucla.edu
UCLA TEP
The new mathematics standards require teachers to teach students concepts and further apply these concepts in real world situations. Graph stories can be a wonderful way to teach mathematical thinking and academic language to students. In this session, educators will gain insights into how they may use graph stories with k-12 students with a wide range of English language proficiency levels.
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Youth, Parents, Community Activists, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
Using Rethinking Mathematics in the Classroom: Teachers’ Experiences and Voices PANEL
Kyndall Brown, kyndallb@math.ucla.edu
Carolee Hurtado, caroleekoehn@gmail.com
This workshop uses the context of reparations for descendants of enslaved African-Americans to explore a culturally relevant approach to teaching mathematics for African-American students.
Intended Audience: Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Youth, Parents, Community Activists
Reparations: A Cultural Context for Math Instruction
(part of the Rethinking Mathematics strand)
Rico Gutstein, gutsteinrico@earthlink.net
University of Illinois at Chicago
Teachers who have taught Rethinking Mathematics in K-12 schools will share their experiences, and the possibilities and challenges of teaching—and learning how to—mathematics for social justice.
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Youth, Parents, Community Activists, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
The Oscars, Video Games, and Twitter: Critical Media Literacy and Mathematics
Marty Romero, mart2718r@gmail.com
UCLA
This workshop will present and discuss with participants how the tenets of Critical Media Literacy can connect with classroom mathematics. We will explore how what it means to do mathematics can be linked with media, technology, and popular culture by critically questioning different types of media representations and creating alternative media messages. Classroom activities will be presented but time will be allocated for us to brainstorm potential projects ideas that connect the mathematics you teach to Critical Media Literacy.
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Youth, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
Mathematics, Equity, and Community
Cathery Yeh, catheryy@uci.edu
Mark Ellis, Susanna Meza, Susanna Meza, Veronica Lopez, Juan Murillo, mellis@exchange.fullerton.edu, szmsuez@gmail.com, murillj1@uci.edu, anrahadiaz@sbcglobal.net
University of California, Irvine
The CCSSM transition has brought about myriad discussions and decisions about curriculum, teaching, and assessment. How do we ensure issues of access, equity, and identity are central to these? Collaboration that includes home, school, and community perspectives is essential for developing programs and processes that promote success for all students. Come engage collectively with educators, parents, and students committed to social justice. Raise concerns and share resources and strategies about how to make access, equity, and identity central to the discussions and decision-making processes within schools and districts transitioning to Common Core mathematics. Please bring any resources or materials you believe would be valuable to others. Time will be allocated for us to share, network, build, learn from, and inspire each other in our work.
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Youth, Parents, Community Activists, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students
That’s not fair! : Teaching fractions to preschoolers through fairness and justice
Theodore Chao, teddy.chao@gmail.com
Harvard University
Young children intuitively understand fairness, especially in equal sharing problems such as, “You and 3 friends are given 6 brownies to share. How many brownies does each child get so everyone gets the same amount?” This workshop, for parents and preschool/elementary teachers, shows how preschool children, aged 4-6, are capable of solving equal sharing problems involving fairness and injustice. We show video of children engaging in sophisticated fractional thinking revolving around, “What is fair?” Participants will learn how to introduce equal sharing problems involving fairness to children and connecting to our emerging research.
Intended Audience: Elementary Teachers, Parents, Community Activists, Professors, Early Childhood Teachers
Social Justice and Community Action Through Math
Tizoc Brenes, tbrenes@youthbuildcharter.org
Angela Lopez, Jesus Trigo, Julia Mijango, angelalopez@ucla.edu, trigo4ed@gmail.com, jmijango@youthbuildcharter.org
YouthBuild Charter School of California
What does it mean to be a social justice educator? YouthBuild Charter School of California (YCSC) will share its educational model, where a cross-curricular and project-based learning model is used to struggle for social justice. Social justice and community action form the content of the curriculum. Moreover, social justice and community action are the models for praxis, for work in the community where students are creating and joining efforts for justice in their neighborhoods and communities. This workshop will highlight how mathematics education is integrated into this multi-dimensional model of education and community action. Teachers from YCSC will share examples of lessons, authentic assessments, and action projects from their high school curriculum.
Intended Audience: High School Teachers, Parents, Community Activists, Professors, Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students