- Notes for 9 March, 2023:
(11:30am–12:50pm, EH 4866)
In this meeeting we will (1) work to establish our own
"guiding principles" for our teaching (but also possibly for our
research, service, etc.); and (2) think about how to
realize those principles in our classrooms (and beyond). We
will start by revisiting our readings from our last meeting and
the Guiding Principles created by Brian Katz and Jess Ellis
Hagman.
Readings:
- Notes for 9 February, 2023:
(11:30am–12:50pm, EH 4866)
In this session we will discuss two starting points for
inclusive teaching, to ground our own consideration. We will
consider the opening manifesto from the MAA Instructional
Practices Guide, and Federico Ardila's axioms.
Readings:
- Notes for 17 November, 2022:
(11:30am–12:50pm, EH 4866)
In this session we will discuss the reading "How
well-intentioned white male physicists maintain ignorance of
inequity and justify inaction," written by a colleague at
Western Michigan University. To this discussion, we will add
consideration of the end of term teaching evaluations. We are
allowed to add evaluation questions to the instrument through 20
November, and we will consider equity-focused questions we might
add to get feedback from our students.
Readings:
- Notes for 22 September, 2022:
(11:30am–12:50pm, behind the graduate library)
To start our new semester, we'll consider the first chapter of
a new book by Sathy and Hogan on Inclusive Teaching. Our
discussion will follow that, and serve to ground our work as we
move into a new academic year!
Readings:
- Notes for 7 April, 2022:
(1:10–2:30pm, LSA canopy, behind the LSA building)
In this session we will look at the experiences of different students
in our math 217 (majors linear algebra) course. There are two
interviews we will consider (listed in readings, below). Some
questions as you read:
- What do you notice or wonder?
- In what ways do you hypothesize that these student' social
identities are influencing their experience of the course?
- In what ways was their learning well supported? In what
ways could it have been better supported?
- What takeaways do you have for your own teaching?
- Interviews with
math 217 students. One is a white,
non-international student and the other a Chinese,
international student. Both of them are women. An
editable version of this was sent out to the LCIT list.
- Notes for 16 March, 2022:
(4:30–5:30pm, online)
In this session we will join a "tea" in the Department in which
Katie Waddle, a current mathematics graduate student, will be
sharing some of her experience using Complex Instruction.
Before starting her PhD at University of Michigan in 2020,
Katie Waddle worked for 8 years in the San Francisco Unified
School District as a high school teacher, gradually taking on
additional roles developing curriculum and coaching new
teachers. In those roles she learned, and then helped train
others, in the use of "Complex Instruction". Complex
Instruction is a set of pedagogical ideas and strategies based
in groupwork, that promote equity in the classroom. The main
premise of complex instruction is that all students are
smart. One of the strategies in Complex Instruction, called
"assigning competence", is to disrupt status hierarchies among
students that arise naturally, by pointing out when students
do or say things that are mathematically smart.
- Notes for 10 February, 2022:
(1:05–2:25pm, online)
In this session we will continue the discussion that we started
at our previous meeting, and explore some ideas related to
microaggressions that came up then.
The short reading is motivated by these.
Readings:
- Notes for 13 January, 2022:
(1–2:30pm, EH 4866)
In this session we will discuss how Federico Ardila-Mantilla
reimagined classroom culture in mathematics to be more inclusive.
The readings below provide a context for this discussion.
Readings:
- Frederico Ardila's Axioms, on
his website.
These, and the course described in the other reading, are
articulated in his article
Todos
Cuentan, which is included here as optional reading.
- This Atlantic article,
Math
Is Personal.
- Notes for 22 November, 2021:
(5:15–6:30pm, virtual and watch party in EH 4096)
For this meeting we have Nicole Louie (U. Wisc.) will
present the
Inaugural Invited Lecture on Justice in
Mathematics Education: Mathematics Education and Pulls Toward
(In)Justice.
Mathematics educators have been talking about "equity" and
"justice" for decades, yet our field continues to reproduce
hierarchies. These hierarchies position some students as "gifted"
or "advanced" and others as "low," "struggling," or "remedial,"
with clear and persistent correlations to race, gender, class,
and other socially constructed hierarchies. How and why does
this happen—and what can it look like for us to deliberately
and consistently disrupt ability hierarchies in our field? In this
talk, Dr. Nicole Louie will take up these questions. Drawing on
her work with teachers in San Francisco and Chicago, she will
describe some of the ways that mathematics educators commonly
find themselves drawn in by the gravitational pull that
hierarchical ways of thinking exert. She will also discuss ways of
resisting this pull, not only in mathematics classrooms but also
in professional communities in which mathematics educators work
together to pull toward justice.
- Notes for 28 October, 2021:
(1–2:30pm, most likely in EH 4866)
For this meeting we anticipate the invited lecture by Nicole
Louie (U. Wisc) on November 22. Our readings include three of
her papers, which treat characteristics of equity-oriented
teaching and impediments in its implementation, including
how we see and understand students.
Readings:
- Notes for 7 October, 2021:
(1–2:30pm, in person, between Hatcher and Clements
Libraries: map).
We will continue our discussion of inclusive teaching in our
current educational situation. We look forward to using these
readings as possible springboards, with the expectation that our
direction will be driven by those in attendance.
Readings:
- Notes for 16 September, 2021:
(1–2:30pm, in person, between Hatcher and Clements
Libraries: map).
Our goal for this meeting is to restart our learning community!
We will begin by talking about participation and community in
our classrooms, with the reading and video indicated below as a
discussion prompt. (But please come even if you are unable to
make it through the reading and video!)
Readings:
- Notes for 13 April, 2021:
(1–2:30pm, online)
The planned topic of discussion is the colloquium from two weeks
ago: "Shoulda Woulda Coulda." If you were unable to attend, you are
still—of course—welcome to attend the meeting. Our
tentative plan is to use about half of our time to discuss the
colloquium and the other half to start making some plans for Summer
and Fall. We are also open to considering climate issues in the
Department, in an effort to provide a productive or useful forum
for that.
- Notes for 30 March, 2021:
(4–5:00pm, online)
The LCIT welcomes the CRLT players, with their session
Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda: Moving Beyond Failure and Actively
Cultivating a More Equitable Academy, to the
Department
colloquium. The session description is as follows:
Systems of higher education in the U.S. create differential
advantage and disadvantage for the people who work and learn in
them. When individuals move through these systems--as
administrators, instructors, or learners--they make choices to
participate in the perpetuation or the disruption of these
inequities. While some perpetuation of inequity can be attributed
to ignorance, it is often true that individuals who do understand
the harmful impacts of unjust behavior, processes, and structures
often fail to address them. This session centers around an
embodied case study depicting one man’s meditation on a personal
failure and the choices he made afterward that defined his path as
an educator. Through session activities, participants will reflect
on what failures of this kind indicate about the educational
environments in which they occur and how such reflection might
prime them to reshape the spaces in which they have
responsibilities.
Content flag: The theatrical portion of this session contains strong
language. It includes descriptions of sexist, heterosexist, and
ableist behaviors and reflection on systemic inequities related to
race and socioeconomic status.
In this session, participants will:
- Reflect on their personal failures to act for justice.
- Consider how their lived relationship to social inequities
within and outside of their educational environment shape their
willingness and ability to act.
- Explore the tension between risk and responsibility when
disrupting the tatus quo.
- Practice identifying opportunities for proactive justice work
in their spheres of influence in the academy.
- Notes for 9 March, 2021:
(1–2:30pm, online)
In this session we will discuss norms and climate in three contexts:
how one creates productive norms in the classroom; the discussion and
community norms for the LCIT itself; and the task of the Department
Climate Committee to develop a list of "community values" that we, as
a Department will stand behind and use to guide policy and decisions.
Readings:
- Notes for 9 February, 2021:
(1–2:30pm, online)
In this session, we will make a transition from reflecting on our
classrooms, department and institutions, to thinking about
mathematics itself as a system that promotes white supremacy.
The reading provide a starting point for considering this. The first
is very short (a twitter thread), the next a short article, and the
third an academic paper. Start at the top of the list. If you have
more time, consider the last article as well. And if you don't have
much time, please come for the discussion anyway!
Readings:
- Twitter
thread.
- Atlantic Article ("How Does Race Affect a Student's Math
Education?: A new paper examines the ways “whiteness” reproduces racial
advantages and disadvantages.") (2017)
This describes research by Dan Battey, and also by Luis Leyva, our guest
in November 2019 (a lifetime ago!).
- "To view mathematics through a lens darkly." Gregory V. Larnell. This
is a chapter from Critical Race Theory in Mathematics Education.
We read another chapter of this book in the last year. We also read
another article by Larnell in the last two years—the study he
mentions might sound familiar! This whole book is available through
the library.
- EXTRA article! Equity, inclusion, and antiblackness in
mathematics education by Danny Martin (2019).
- Notes for 27 October, 2020:
(1–2:30pm, online)
In this session we will discuss
Chapter 4 of Esther Enright's thesis. Esther Enright completed
her thesis at UM in the School of Education, and it gives some
particularly important insights into our department culture around
teaching.
Readings:
- Notes for 29 September, 2020:
(1–2:30pm, online)
In this session we will discuss the open letter to the Department
sent to raise issues with racism in the Introductory Program courses,
and Chapter 3 of Esther Enright's thesis. Esther Enright completed
her thesis at UM in the School of Education, and it gives some
particularly important insights into our department culture around
teaching.
Readings:
- Letter (distributed by LCIT e-mail list)
- Esther Enright's thesis.
Chapter 3 is pp.55–99 in PDF numbering, or pp.36–80 in
document numbering.
- Notes for 28 August, 2020:
(2–3:30pm, online)
In this session, we will discuss two webinars offered by NCFDD,
Developing Anti-Oppressive Communities: Supporting Black Students
and Mentees, and Creating an Inclusive Classroom: Students with
Disabilities.
- Notes for 16 July, 2020:
(10–11:30am, online)
In this discussion we will consider equitable teaching on-line,
race and our response to police violence toward Black Americans,
and additional meetings for the summer.
Readings:
- Plenary
lecture from Daniel Reinholz (SDSU) about equitable teaching
practices online.
- Chapter
2 of 'Critical What What?' Critical Race Theory and
Mathematics Education, by Celia Rousseau Anderson. (Link is
for the UMich library on-line text, which will work for UMich
users.)
-
Notes for 14 April, 2020:
(11:30am–1:00pm, EH4866)
(canceled due to pandemic)
-
Notes for 17 March, 2020:
(11:30am–1:00pm, EH4866)
(canceled due to pandemic)
The topic for this session will be announced shortly.
- Notes for 18 February, 2020:
(11:30am–1:00pm, EH4866)
Our topic for this week will be transparency in teaching, especially
in assignment design. We'll have guest Theresa Braunschneider from
CRLT helping us frame this conversation. The article indicated
below will help orient you towards our discussion next week, but
we'll also provide plenty of framing in the session, and most of our
time will be spent concretely discussing our courses and
assignments/problem sets. As usual, reading is encouraged but
attendance is welcomed even if you were unable to read.
Readings:
- Winkelmes,
Mary-Ann, The
Unwritten Rules of College, Chronicle of Higher Education. 21
Sep. 2015. Accessed 11 Feb 2020. (Access is available from
University computers.)
- Notes for 28 January, 2020:
(11:30am–1:00pm, EH4866)
Our first meeting this semester will focus on groupwork, and how to
make sure that we are making it inclusive. We will discuss the
readings below, with a presentation of some research highlights and
vignettes. As usual, reading is encouraged but attendance is
welcomed even if you were unable to read.
Readings:
- Notes for 26 November, 2019:
(11:30am–1:00pm, EH4866)
For this session we have Luis Leyva, from Vanderbilt University,
leading our discussion. Readings are given below; note that
specific sections are suggested as higher priority.
Readings:
- Levya, L., et al. 2019. Detailing
the Potentially Marginalizing Nature of Undergraduate Mathematics
Classroom Events for Minoritized Students at Intersections of
Racial and Gender Identities, Proceedings of the 22nd Annual
Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education.
- Battey, D., Levya, L. 2016. A
Framework for Understanding Whiteness in Mathematics
Education, J. Urban Mathematics
Education 9(2):49–80, especially the introduction
(pp.49–51), whiteness in math education (pp.51–53) and
institutional space (pp.60–62) sections.
- Levya, L. 2017. Unpacking
the Male Superiority Myth and Masculinization of Mathematics at
the Intersections: A Review of Research on Gender in Mathematics
Education. J Research in Mathematics
Education. 48(48):397–433.
Appendix.
Most important are the introduction (pp.397–399),
achievement (pp.401–402) and implications for research
(pp.406–407), participation (pp.407–409,
413–414, 417–419) and implications for research
(pp.417–419), and argument for intersectional analyses of
gender (pp.419–421) sections.
- Notes for 29 October, 2019:
(11:30am–1:00pm, EH4866)
In this session we will be splitting the time between (1) Elaine
Lande sharing "mathematical silhouettes" with us from her students
this past summer and (2) Hanna Bennett sharing some of what she
learned at the PCMI summer workshop run by Rochelle Gutiérrez on
Rehumanizing Mathematics for Black, Indigenous, and LatinX
students.
Readings:
- Notes for 1 October, 2019:
(11:30am–1:00pm, EH4866)
In this session we will expand our consideration of readings to the
resources available from
CRLT. CRLT's
inclusive
teaching website has a wealth of good resources that admit going
down many different, instructive, rabbit holes. Follow some links,
see what you find, and bring those to our meeting.
- Notes for 10 September, 2019
(11:30am–1:00pm, EH4866)
Our goals for this session are to restart our community for a new
semester. The readings are intended to provide new insight on
inclusive teaching as well as a common base from which to start our
new semester. As you read the readings, below, please reflect on
the questions what seems familiar or applicable from these
readings?, and what seems unfamiliar?
Readings:
- Living
Proof.
Henrich, A.K., Lawrence, E.D., Pons, M.A., Taylor, D.G., eds.
MAA Press, AMS. Providence, RI. ©2019.
We will focus on Part II: Who Are These People? Do I Even Belong?
- Sathy, V & Hogan, K.A.
Want
to Reach All of Your Students? Here’s How to Make Your Teaching
More Inclusive. Chronicle of Higher Education, July 22,
2019.
- Summer Reading Group 2:
Discussing Inventing the Mathematician, by Sara Hottinger.
Meetings are
July 15, 11–12:30pm (Chapters 1, 2),
July 26, noon–1:30pm (Chapters 3, 4), and
August 12, 9:30–11am (Chapters 5, 6).
- Summer Reading Group 1:
Discussing Mathematical Mindsets, by Jo Boaler.
Meetings are
May 20, 10–11:30am (Chapters 1–4),
June 3, 10–11:30am (Chapters 5–6), and
June 26, 10–11:30am (Chapters 7–9).
- Notes for 30 April, 2019
(11:30am–1:00pm, EH4866)
In this session we will consider our discussion and conclusions from
the semester, and think about how to move our community forward
through the summer and into the ongoing year.
- Notes for 2 April, 2019
(noon–1:30pm, EH4866)
In this session, we will have a guest facilitator,
Maisie
Gholson, from our School of Education. There are two readings,
exploring mathematics identity development in black students in
post-secondary contexts, included below.
- Notes for
12 14 March, 2019
(2:30–4pm, EH 4866)
In this session we will continue our discussion on how to apply
some of the ideas about which we have been reading to specific
classes. Our first example class will be math 116, and we will
consider some work on mastery grading in that course. Our second
topic will be some of the content courses for teachers, with the
option of considering how we may make other courses more inclusive
in structural or non-structural ways.
Readings: no new readings for this session. Please feel free to review
some of the reading that we have done to this point!
- Readings for 26 February, 2019
(noon–1:30pm, EH 4866)
In this meeting we will extend our conversation from last time,
especially how we imagine the three overarching strategies from
Cohen's chapter 10 might work in various settings within our math
department. In addition, we'll add two readings from media sources
to our discussion (see below).
Though it's not the focus on this coming meeting, we anticipate
there will be ample opportunities to draw connections to our
discussion of stereotype threat from last semester. If you were
not part of that conversation, there are two quick resources
listed below.
- Readings for 5 February, 2019
(noon–1:30pm, EH 4866)
In Winter 2018, we looked at a number of issues with inclusivity in
teaching, one of which revolved around groupwork and inclusive
teaching. While using groupwork (and other active learning
strategies) has been shown to "level the playing field" (Laursen et
al, 2014), it is not de facto inclusive, and it can be challenging to
ensure that all students are having equitable opportunities to
participate and learn. The theme of this first meeting will be
"Identity and Groupwork" and we’ll explore the role of social
identities and roles students take in groupwork. We have three
readings. If you are short on time, just read the first one!
Takeaways
("gots" and "needs") from the discussion (Google doc).
- Elizabeth Cohen. Designing Groupwork: Strategies for the
Heterogeneous Classroom. Chapter 10,
"Treating
Expectations for Competence."
- Elizabeth Cohen. Designing Groupwork: Strategies for the
Heterogeneous Classroom. Chapter 3,
"The
Dilemma of Groupwork."
- Eddy, S. L., Brownell, S. E., Thummaphan, P., Lan, M. C., &
Wenderoth, M. P. (2015). Caution, student experience may vary:
social identities impact a student's experience in peer
discussions. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 14(4), ar45.
Link
from UM Library.
In addition, we considered the following activities:
- Reading for 13 November, 2018
(11:30am–1pm, EH 4866)
In this session we will discuss Claude Steele's Whistling
Vivaldi and stereotype threat. Steele's book is quite a quick
read, but some selections are indicated below, along with two
podcasts that address some of the same information, for
consideration as well.
Supporting materials:
- Whistling Vivaldi, Claude Steele.W.W. Norton & Co.
NY, NY ©2010.
The following sections provide a reasonable quick overview:
- §1.2 (pp.5–7): intro
- §2.5 (pp.29–39): the impact of stereotype threat
- §3.4 (pp.48–54): affect on multiple groups
- §7.4 (pp.121–127): physiological effect
- §§9.4, 9.5 (pp.161–169): reducing the
impact of stereotype threat
- About 30 minute interview with Claude Steele from Talk of
the Nation: interview
- A talk given by Steele at Reed College (about one hour):
talk
- Reading for 2 October, 2018
(11:30am–1pm, EH 4866)
(After this, the next meeting of the Community will be 13
November.)
In this session we will restart our conversation about issues in
inclusiveness in our teaching practice. To ground our discussion,
we will consider Talking About Leaving, Why Undergraduates Leave
the Sciences, by Elaine Seymour and Nancy Hewitt. We encourage
you to consider all of the document below, or even the full text;
however, for our discussion we will consider pp.1–24 and
30–49 in the overview, which is provided below. The substance
of our discusion will be concerned with the findings, which are
pp.30–49.
Supporting reading:
- Information for 30 May, 2018
At this session we will have
Victoria Genetin, CRLT's assistant director for diversity and
inclusivity, to help us continue to reach closure on our semester of
work and to better frame the ideas that we have for our teaching and
the Department's instructional program.
- Readings for 17 April, 2018
In our last session of the academic year we
have three goals: (1) begin to examine our own implicit bias
(through taking the Harvard IAT and reflecting on our personal
practice and professional culture); (2) synthesize some of our
take-home messages for the semester and what we might share
succinctly with our colleagues; and (3) articulate our
community's "open questions" and briefly makes some plans for our
learning community going forward.
Before coming to this session, please (1) complete the
implicit
association test, (2) Bring 3–5 suggestions
for teaching inclusively that you might give a colleague,
and (3) read the supporting readings, below.
- P.G. Devine, P.S. Forscher, A.J. Austin, and T.L. Cox.
Long-term reduction in implicit race bias: A prejudice
habit-breaking intervention. Journal of Experimental Social
Psychology 48(6):1267–1278.
UM library
link: article.
- Readings for 3 April, 2018
In this session, we will look at
inclusion and assessment. Harrison Bray and Nina White will
lead a discussion on the following supporting readings.
Please fill out this survey before 11:59pm on Thursday,
3/29, to help them frame this session.
- Assessing Assessment,
by Lynn Steen. This is the introduction to the MAA assessment
volume linked here, pp.1–6.
- Framing Equity,
by Rochelle Gutierrez. This is pp.5–6 in this document,
and questions for discussion are on p.8.
- Optional complimentary readings are in the
MAA
Instructional Practice Guide. The sections on assessment,
pp.69–109, and equity, pp.157–166 are particularly
relevant for our discussion. We especially recommend the equity
section, which will enhance the other (very short!) readings.
- Readings for 7 March, 2018
In this session, Nancy Kress, from
the University of Colorado, Boulder, will speak on instructional
strategies to increase students' opportunities to participate in
learning and doing mathematics. A discussion will follow, driven by
participants' questions and interests.
Supporting reading:
- Readings for 20 February, 2018
In this session, we seek to explore what
inclusivity in our classrooms may mean and may look like. Specific
questions that we may wish to consider include:
(1) What aspects of the programs and instructional techniques
described in these articles are most and least consistent with the
teaching that you are doing now? With the way our Introductory Program
courses are taught? With your experience as a learner?
(2) What techniques for creating a more inclusive classroom do you
want to try? What are your concerns about doing so?
- Readings for
29 January,
2018 6 February, 2018
Our goals for this session are to establish a
context for the community, and to start thinking concretely about the
classes we teach. The NCTM position statement is not directly
applicable to University classrooms, but provides insight from a
professional organization concerned with mathematics teaching. We
hope the other two articles will seed discussion about our own
teaching practices.