As I've mentioned in previous discussions, my school started a new program this year called Community Time. This change in the schedule came a few years after Diversity was added as a core value to our school mission. After last year, students felt they needed a place to talk more about issues of race, socio-economic status, gender, etc. and Community Time was born. Teachers, including myself, have asked administration for additional training in leading these groups. In particular, it's difficult to make sure all students are allowed to express their opinion and feel heard while not offending someone else. We did a lot of work last week with how to be an active listener while talking about politics. I like that these Community Time groups were randomly assigned (by grade level) so that students interact with a diverse group each week. I really enjoyed reading about the difference between individualism and collectivism. I'm thinking that is something we could discuss with our students in Community Time next week.
In my math classroom, I certainly feel that I have room to grow to be more culturally inclusive. I have worked hard to try to incorporate student's names and interests into math problems. I've included the history of mathematics where appropriate. For example, Pascal's Triangle, which is the name taught in American schools, was named after Blaise Pascal (17th century French mathematician). However, historians have found evidence of the same mathematics discovered by Chinese mathematicians as early at the 11th century!
I would actually love to take a history of mathematics course and incorporate even more of that type of information into my lessons!
