Math for ALL

MATH FOR
ALL
JEFFREY MILLER, M.A.T.
K-12 MATHEMATICS FACILITATOR
GRAND PRAIRIE ISD

HEARD THIS BEFORE?
• These students are so low, they can’t
even….
• Those strategies won’t work in my classroom
because my students…
• We just don’t have enough time to teach like
that because our students don’t know how
to…
• This isn’t working with my bubble kids…
Jeffrey Miller, M.A.T. 2010

WHERE DO WE START?
“The question for the educator/leader is
not whether all humans can learn, but
what conditions we can devise so they
will learn. For only when the school
house becomes a context for adult
development will it become hospitable to
student development”
Roland Barth, Learning by Heart, 2001 p.29

OUTCOMES
Examine the impact of
• Culture
• Mindset
• Expectations
Overview of applicable best practices

CULTURE - MINDSETS - EXPECTATIONS
Expectations
Mindsets
Culture

CULTURE IS…
“…everything that people believe and
everything that they do that identifies
them as members of a group and
distinguishes that group from other
groups.”
Lindsey, Robins, Terrell (1999)

TEACHERS’ CULTURE:
ITS ALLABOUT YOU
People
• ____
• ____
Events
• ____
• ____
Places
• ____
• ____

CULTURAL EXPECTATIONS FOR
A GROUP
“Assist in screening outsiders and
controlling insiders, thus providing
the basis for a group to sustain itself.”
Lindsey, Robins, Terrell (1999)

SAMPLES OF STUDENT’S CULTURE
The following chartis fromChapter Three“Hidden Rules Among Classes” in A Framework:Understanding and WorkingWithStudents and Adults
fromPoverty.
Poverty Middle Class Wealthy
Possessions People Things One of a kind objects
Money To be used, spent To be managed To be conserved, invested
Food “Did you have enough?” (Quantity) “Did you like it?” (Quality)
“Was it presented well”
(Presentation)
Clothing
Valued for individual style and
expression of personality
Valued for quality and acceptance.
Label Important.
Valued for artistic sense and
expression. Designer important
Time
Present most important. Decisions
made for moment for survival.
Future important. Decisions made
against future ramifications.
Traditions and past important.
Decisions made based on
decorum.
Social
Emphasis
Social of inclusion of people they
like.
Emphasis on self-governance and
self-sufficiency.
Emphasis on social exclusion.
Language Language is about survival. Language is about negotiation. Language is about connections.
Family
Structure
Tends to be matriarchal. Tends to be patriarchal. Depends on who has the money.
World View
See the world in terms of the local
setting.
Sees the world in terms of the
national setting.
See the world in terms of an
international view.
Driving Force
Survival, relationships and
entertainment.
Work and achievement
Financial, political, and social
connections

INTERACTIONS BETWEEN
CULTURES
Within a classroom there are continual negotiations
taking place surrounding issues like:
• What counts as knowledge and who has access to
really useful knowledge?
• Who has ability?
• Who controls the teaching space?
• Who is valued as an individual learner?
• Whose voice is given credence within that space?

INTERACTIONS BETWEEN
CULTURES
Discourse of
Power
Communication
Knowledge “Why are we doing this?” – restricted access to powerful
knowledge
Ability “I can’t do this”-feelings of not being able to achieve and
a spiral of low expectations and aspiration
Control “I’m not doing that” – struggles over classroom time and
space and debilitating consequences of resistance and
compliance
Place “I’m just a kid from” – devalued as individual and learner
Voice “Teacher tells us” – no say over learning with teacher as
sole controller and judge
Munns, Geoff. (2004)

If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich
in contrasting values, we must recognize
the whole gamut of human potentialities
and so weave a less arbitrary social
fabric, one in which each diverse human
gift will find a fitting place
Margaret Mead, U. S. anthropologist (1901-1978)

MINDSETS: SELF BELIEFS AND THEIR IMPACT
…many students have difficulty in school not
because they are incapable of performing
successfully but because they are incapable of
believing they can perform successfully…
Pajares & Schunk, 2020

MINDSETS: WHAT BELIEFS ARE IN QUESTION?
• Beliefs about intelligence
• Beliefs about their environment
• Beliefs about successes and
failure

MINDSETS: BELIEFS ABOUT INTELLIGENCE
Dweck, C.S. (1999)

MINDSETS: CONSEQUENCES
Most students who view intelligence
as being fixed
Most students who view intelligence
as being malleable:
Believe that they have only a certain
amount of intelligence and that it cannot
be changed
Believe that intelligence can be
cultivated through learning
Avoid challenges and seek easy
successes—pass up valuable learning
opportunities
Pursue and enjoy challenges
Desire to look smart at all costs Care less about “looking smart”
Worry about failure and question their
ability
Engage in self-monitoring and self-
instruction
Focus on performance goals Focus on learning goals
Dweck, C.S. (1999)

MINDSETS: BELIEFS ABOUT THE
LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
• Belonging
• Stereotyping
Fear that one’s behavior will confirm an
existing stereotype can lead to impaired
performance
Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson (1995)

MINDSETS: BELIEFS ABOUT SUCCESS
AND FAILURE
Individuals make sense of their successes
and failures by attributing those experiences
to certain factors. These factors can be
identified as controllable or uncontrollable
National Research Council, 2004; Weiner, 2000

EXPECTATIONS
• Label abuse
• Dumbing down
• Intentional vs. unintentional
• What rigor communicates

NOW WHAT CAN WE DO
ABOUT IT?

OVERARCHING RESEARCH
CONCLUSIONS
1. The Mindset of the teacher and student about doing
Mathematics places a vital role in the achievement of
urban students;
2. Teacher expectations must be replaced with high
standards, high expectations and high accountability
for all urban students in order to improve mathematics
performance;
3. Rigorous learning outcomes demand rigorous learning
experiences;
4. Awareness and engagement of Culture can leads to
inclusive learning environment.

NCSM RECOMMENDATIONS
• Understand our role and reflect on our beliefs
• Create learning environment that promote malleable
intelligence
• Recognize and act on students unapparent desires
• Ensure all students get the “good stuff”
• Teach & Model effective effort
• Implement assessment for learning strategies
• Provide descriptive feedback

JEFFREY’S GEMS
• Talk to kids with the belief that they are intelligent beings
with valid ideas and great potential rather than as
objectified “mindless misfits”
• Be explicit, honest, clear, “real”, transparent about your
struggles with obvious things (e.g., lessons, constraints,
goals) but without flattening the hierarchy.
• Affirm the child’s effort.

JEFFREY’S GEMS
• Create a classroom culture of peer encouragement
that has the mantra, “We think, we try…”
• Embrace culture by taking every opportunity possible
to elevate differences to equal playing fields (e.g., plan
thematic lessons, look at other cultural groups &
communities)
• Start hard, aim high. (start with a rigorous lesson
instead of “dumbing it down” at the outset). Example:
Invite the kids to help you formulate the problem using
real world applications.

SOURCES AND READINGS
• It Doesn’t Add Up: African American Students’ Mathematics Achievement by
Gloria Ladson-Billings
• Teacher Expectations and Their Effects on African American Students’ Success
in Mathematics by Kathy M. Cousins-Cooper
• Yes We Can: Telling Truths and Dispelling Myths About Race and Education in
America by Amy Wilkins and the Educational Trust
• Teaching Mathematics to the Least Academically Prepared African American
Students by Laura Brooks Smith, Lee V. Stiff, and Melinda R. Petree
• STEP: An Enrichment Model for African American High School Students by
Elaine B. Hofstetter, Elaine Kolitch, and Karen N. Bell
• MindSets Matters By Charles A. Dana Center
• A synthesis of knowledge base and practices that promote equitable learning,
by Deborah Childs Bowen
• Improving Student achievement in Mathematics by Promoting Positive Self-
Beliefs
• A Sense of Wonder by Geoff Munns
• Improving Student Achievement by Leading the Pursuit of a Vision for Equity
by NCSM

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