Promoting Equity in Your Math Classroom

By Margaret Williams Elementary VP

      There have been changes in the school experience for teachers and students this year.  Many schools are moving to some version of “in-person” learning. Whether you are teaching in-person or remotely, the learning environment can lift or oppress our students. Collaboration is a high leverage practice that can accelerate learning for all.  

     Some students may prefer to complete tasks independently at times.  Some teachers may prefer to have students work independently as the classroom may be quieter and the teacher may feel there is increased accountability.  When independent work is the primary model for learning in the math classroom, there tends to be an implicit or even explicit focus on individual success and competition.  This perpetuates the idea that if a student is struggling, it is because they aren’t trying hard enough.  This culture can be especially damaging to our culturally and linguistically diverse students.

     Collaboration done well, lifts everyone. In Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain, Zaretta Hammond shares research around the importance of language in learning.  Through conversations with peers, students develop tools to mentally process new learning. We learn best when we are able to think through ideas out loud and build off the thinking of others.  If we want to maximize the benefits of collaboration, our students must believe that we truly value collaborative work over independent work.

     In The Distance Learning Playbook , jigsaws and reciprocal teaching are identified as two student-centered activities with high effect size. Reciprocal teaching is typically thought of as an instructional tool for ELA.  It can be quite powerful in math, too, by having pairs or small groups investigate concepts and/or mathematical relationships and teach their findings to peers. With teacher support, these strategies are a good fit for the math classroom as children learn important content from each other. 

     Many curricula build in time for students to develop and refine work over a span of time, to allow room for skills and concepts to sink in as students participate in games and other activities.  Many teachers, with a curious eye, may find a multitude of opportunities for students to collaborate with one another:  

• Utilizing Think-Pair-Share,
• Solving complex problems with partners or in small groups and present thinking to another group or the class, 
• Developing mathematical definitions or rules in small groups and
• Playing games. 

    The above strategies/activities are designed to give each learner an opportunity to engage in learning with their peers as we welcome our students back to our classrooms or as we learn new ways to support our students in distance learning.