This morning, I stumbled upon a video clip of two students double counting. These students were immersed in an authentic problem – how do we read two counts? I loved hearing their two voices and watching their gestures as they navigated two counts, uninterrupted by adult conversation. This video reminded me of a question that I have been mulling over for months now: How do students construct a mathematical identity that is rooted in the context of who they are and who they want to become outside the classroom? In particular, I wonder, how does the way we teach students to construct viable argu ..read more

I haven’t been able to write much on my blog for the last two years because I have been busy writing the 5th grade course for the Illustrative Mathematics K-5 math curriculum. I am humbled and honored to share some of the story my colleagues and I are writing. From the start of the year, we want students to know they are capable of engaging in grade level mathematics. In the Opportunity Myth (2018), data has shown there is an opportunity gap for historically marginalized students between the grade level expectations laid out in standards and students’ opportunities to engage with this content ..read more

I have thought about race more in the last year than I have in my entire life. My job for the last two years has been to write math curriculum for 5th grade students all over the country. When I first got the job, I was really worried about the fact that most of my career was spent working with white children in Maine. Does it matter that I have mostly worked with white children? It seems like it would matter. What kind of contexts should I write about? What do kids in the city care about?” I think I actually said that out loud at one point: “kids in the city”. I was afraid to say the word bla ..read more