As the largest professional organization devoted to improving mathematics teacher education, the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE) continues to experience growth in its membership, with over 1000 members. Current action plans and goals for the 2020-2024 term, under the presidency of Megan Burton, were established to further support AMTE members on issues related to equity in mathematics teacher education. Four long-term goals support mathematics teachers and mathematics teacher educators systemically to understand their job environment and social and racial justice issues. Thus, during the 26th Annual AMTE Conference plenary session, as one of the actionable plans, guest speakers were invited to address social justice issues around the field of mathematics teacher education. The five guest speakers¹ shared their unique insights and posed vital questions. In this paper, we respond to those critical questions to shed light on teacher educators' responsibilities. In the following sections, we share our responses.

Key Questions and Responses

Question posed by Toya Jones Frank: What does it look like to take action on centering mathematics teachers and teacher candidates who are marginalized based on their identities?

Response written by Natasha Ramsay-Jordan: Dr. Frank's timely and powerful call aligns well with research scholars (see Muhammad, et al. 2020; Tanisha Lisle-Johnson & Kohli, 2020) who assert that it is vital to center Black women educators' educational experience to provide insight for educators and improve the trajectories of Black women teachers. As a Black woman mathematics teacher educator, the clarity and sense of urgency that came with Dr. Frank's call resonates well. The consequences of longstanding inequitable structures leave Black women educators underrepresented and unsupported. So, what does centering Black women educators look like, particularly when, for Black women, the intersectionality of race, class, and gender biases shape an educational journey unique and reflective of their historical experiences? While the breadth and scope of Dr. Frank’s call cannot be addressed fully in this mere paragraphed reaction, answers will require reflection, strategic planning, and actionable equity-minded approaches that explicitly name and address racial, gender, and socioeconomic inequities Black women educators experience. Dr. Franks' call and this response is a push for more to be done to ignite care for Black women educators. It is time to honor their teaching, service, and scholarship brilliance. It is time to acknowledge their experience and provide support in ways that help them thrive. Black women are critical contributors to mathematics and mathematics education. Therefore, I acknowledge their contributions and center their theories on education. The call is out, and the time to use intentional reflective and actionable practices to bring Black women educators out of obscurity is now.

Question posed by Melissa Adams Corral: How would practitioners recognize that you as a researcher were doing something different? – Who might get upset if you were to do that work? – Whose upset might be ignored if you do not do that?”

Response written by Elizabeth Suazo-Flores: Dr. Corral's words, "work with instead of on others," resonated with me. MTEs are usually portrayed as more knowledgeable (Abtahi, 2014), which sets vertical relationships between MTEs and teachers. I envision working with others as all learning alongside each other (e.g., Civil, 2007), which is rewarding and energizing, but not necessarily conducive to tenure. In the United States, mathematics education research is mainly positioned as offering an answer or a solution (e.g., Paul & Marfo, 2001), which has kept MTEs in the same epistemological cage (D’Ambrosio, 2015). Adams Corral invited us to stop and reconceptualize our views of research and being MTEs. She allowed me to envision my MTE role supporting teachers in their always-becoming journeys. We are part of a whole. We are the AMTE and the mathematics education community. It is up to us to move our field forward by engaging in research projects across the edges of our current epistemological cages. Today is the time to work alongside others and document those experiences to diversify our mathematics teacher education research. Adams Corral's words called me to be an agent of change and to support marginalized people and marginalized research.

Question posed by Luis A Leyva: What is a classroom practice or program feature that you will interrogate for the advancement of racial and intersectional justice as a mathematics teacher educator, and how do you perceive your identity and social position shaping this responsibility of interrogation?

Response written by Sheunghyun Yeo: Dr. Leyva asserted our MTEs need to interrogate our mathematics teacher education programs in three areas: practice, program, and perspective. This brings me a fundamental question: What does mathematics do in the schools and society? Since mathematics traditionally provides access to specific groups of students (e.g., white males) and not to marginalized groups, mathematics has been considered to create exclusivity and division between groups depending on their diverse characteristics such as race, ethnicity, and gender. Therefore, it is possible mathematics can be used to perpetuate inequity for students of color or females as a tool of hegemony. Furthermore, in/preservice teachers might take granted these phenomena and repeat the same practices with their students as they have learned and experienced from their teachers. As an MTE, we might implement the same things as teachers as we take for granted what mathematics methods and content courses should look like. Therefore, MTEs should interrogate potential roadblocks that hinder PSTs' development of sensitivity and emphasize the identification of PSTs' perspective and identity on learning and teaching mathematics, which extremely influence their future students. What about starting to build social norms for everyone's participation and success prior to teaching mathematics methods and content courses? What about asking about their mathematics life story with deep reflection? I am sure such incremental changes will bring new waves in mathematics education.

Question posed by Jared Webb: What moments are you creating for Black PSTs, PTs, MTEs, and faculty to flourish in their humanity and brilliance?

Response written by Barbara King: Dr. Webb called on AMTE members to consider how to create moments for Black PSTs to “flourish in their humanity and brilliance.” Dr. Webb, a White man, works with Black PSTs to re-design the curriculum to create such moments. After talking with many Black students at my university, I gained insight into the alienation some students feel being one of a small number of Black students in each class. I have long wanted to co-develop a counter space in the education school where Black PSTs could unite. Instead of using my privilege and whiteness to help create such a space, I have used them as an excuse to pass the responsibility to someone else. Dr. Webb’s speech reminded me that being white is not a reason to sit idly by. It is always the right time to work towards change, and everyone has a choice whether to be part of the solution or part of the problem. I will no longer sit by and watch but will work closely with Black PSTs to create spaces that allow them to “flourish in their humanity and brilliance.”

Question posed by Priya V. Prasad: What is the responsibility as a mathematics teacher educator working in a Math department? What would it look like to support Math Teachers?

Response written by Anthony Fernandes: Dr. Prasad draws our attention to the role and responsibilities of MTEs within mathematics departments that provide several service courses for non-mathematics majors. In some cases, the service courses act as gatekeepers to other degrees (e.g., Calculus for engineering). Dr. Prasad suggests that we translate the same work that we do at the K-12 level to college. We support instructors in observations, organizing professional learning communities, providing evidence-based instructional practices, counter deficit thinking, and work towards equity. Given the views about mathematics, especially by college instructors (e.g., mathematics being culture free and value free), a challenging aspect of the work will be changing the traditional conceptions of mathematics and how it is taught. A good start would be for instructors to see models of teaching, try aspects in their own classes, reflect on their teaching, and build a community with other instructors. In the process, instructors will also develop beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics that align with the AMTE Standards. This is important work that needs to be done as we seek to broaden the participation of all students in STEM areas.

Conclusion

In this paper, we shared our responses to key questions posed by the guest speakers during the plenary session, which was part of AMTE's efforts to create spaces to continue discussing social and racial justice and building an inclusive environment regardless of MTEs’ backgrounds. When responding to the questions, we realized that asking ourselves those questions keeps us accountable in our daily work. Each of us can do something that, as a whole, will move us forward in re-conceptualizing our work as MTEs. Across the questions and responses, it was evident that our roles as MTEs are multi-facet and dynamically change depending on situations. Such acknowledgment of our identity and its influence would be the foundation to establish our bonds in the community of MTEs; we are NOT alone but work together from different institutions to make the AMTE community. We hope our members create safe and secure spaces to keep supporting each other in re-conceptualizing their work.

References

Abtahi, Y. (2014). Who/what is the more knowledgeable other. For the Learning of Mathematics, 34(3), 14-15.

Civil, M. (2007). Building on community knowledge: An avenue to equity in mathematics education. In N. Nasir & P. Cobb (Eds.), Improving access to mathematics: Diversity and equity in the classroom (pp. 105-117). Teachers College Press.

D’ Ambrosio, U. (2015). From mathematics education and society to mathematics education and a sustainable civilization: A threat, an appeal, and a proposal. In Proceedings of the eighth international mathematics education and society conference (Vol. 8, pp. 19-30).  

Lisle-Johnson, T. & Kohli, R. (2020). Critical Black women educators: Resisting the racial and ideological marginality of K–12 teaching through critical professional development. Theory into Practice, 59(4), 348-357

Muhammad, G. E., Dunmeyer, A., Starks, F. D.,& Sealey-Ruiz, Y. (2020). Historical voices for contemporary times: Learning from Black women educational theorists to redesign teaching and teacher education. Theory into Practice, 59(4) 419-428

Paul, J. & Marfo, K. (2001). Preparation of educational researchers in philosophical foundations of inquiry. Review of Educational Research, 71(4), 525-547

¹ The recorded video of the lectures can be accessed: https://vimeo.com/677478134/f0523f4ba9?embedded=true&source=video_title&owner=19012578