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ERIC Number: ED590171
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 356
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 978-0-4384-0867-8
ISSN: EISSN-
EISSN: N/A
How Can (White) Teachers Do Right by Their Black Students? Grappling with Whiteness in the Math Classroom
Young, Hollie
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park
This research is a collection of three studies that aim to better understand what it might mean for a White teacher to do right by her Black students in a mathematics classroom. By using a practitioner research design, I examine my own teaching in an all Black seventh grade low track mathematics class in an urban school. In the first study I illustrate how obligations to particular perspectives from stakeholders in the role of mathematics teacher can lead to conflicting aims, particularly when analyzing how a racialized lens influences the emergence and management of dilemmas. The second study involves a comparison of the intended and enacted curriculum in whole class discussions to examine students' opportunities to learn mathematical language and concepts. In this study I look at how I grappled with the ways in which Whiteness is assumed as a norm in the presentation of the tasks and suggestions for discussions in a reform-oriented curriculum and in my own commitment to creating access while foregoing precision. The third and final study is a case study with two students to illustrate how a teacher can mediate the relationship between students' perceptions of their mathematical ability and their participation in discussions. This research serves as one example of how a teacher can interrupt the assumed reciprocal pathways from students' perceptions about their abilities and their engagement in whole class mathematics discussions. From these three studies, I summarize several themes around what it might look like for White teachers to do right by Black students. By using the phrase do right by to re-conceptualize a traditional notion of equity, I conclude that White teachers can uphold a commitment to serving the best interests of their Black students by developing a racialized lens as they grapple with Whiteness, implement a balanced approach that draws on both reform-oriented and traditional approaches for teaching mathematics, and recognize that context matters when making decisions in a mathematics classroom. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Tel: 800-521-0600; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml
Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: Grade 7; Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Elementary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A