New Year's Resolutions
For many teachers, January marks the second semester or it means coming back from a break with fresh perspective. Often it allows for teachers to start fresh and reflect on what has and hasn't been working. At Nepantla Teachers Community, we asked a few mathematics educators to share a short resolution to spark imagination and intent for the months to come.
CARL OLIVER: Knowing my students well enough to understand and believe in their hopes, dreams and goals. Once I understand their goals, I want to work collaboratively to achieve them, advocate urgently if their aspirations are threatened, and ultimately, celebrate with genuine joy as their hopes, dreams, and goals progress towards realization.
DAN MEYER: I'm resolving to spend as much time next year thinking about student lives outside of school as I do their lives inside of school. Teaching and curriculum have enormous influence on student learning but the influence of those in-school factors is dwarfed by out-of-school factors like [housing] (https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22183…) and [food security] (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2992390…). So I'm resolving to practice humanizing pedagogies AND to protest school closures in my city, to create [interesting mathematical activities] (http://teacher.desmos.com) AND to urge my representatives to protect and expand social programs. I'm resolving to ignore the distinction between educator and citizen.
HEMA KHODAI: In the year 2020, I am committing to navigating the tensions in unlearning practices that prioritize the growth of others over my own well-being and learn healthy ways of uplifting community that value my brilliance and being.
Learn more about Hema here: khodai.com
IDIL A: My New Year's Resolution for 2020 is to expect more from my students and communicate those expectations with love. Holding a high standard is a vote of confidence and love is key because it needs to be personal. These are not just my general standards, these are my standards for you in particular because I believe in you in particular.
MARIAN DINGLE: Because so much of what I am exposed to is beyond my control, I resolve to be very intentional of the energy I allow into my space via media, text, atmosphere and persons. I resolve to say the things that need to be said, without apology, in the service of students and educators, especially those still forced to the margins.
Learn more about Marian here: https://www.mariandingle.com/
MAKEDA BROME: My 2020 New Year's Resolution is an ode to Frozen 2; it is to keep doing "next right thing" as Elsa sings. Ensuring all students learn math, see themselves as mathematicians, and fighting for equity is hard work, frustrating, and overwhelming at times. But the work must be done even if in pieces, so I have to keep doing the "next right thing" so the work can continue being done.
Learn more about Makeda here: https://teachingwithmath.wordpress.com/
TYRONE MARTINEZ-BLACK: I resolve to create and maintain more relationships offline as I seek to tie more action to my thinking.
Learn more about Tyrone here: https://oftenatangent.wordpress.com/
Thanks for reading our special January edition of our blog as we take a break from our regular series. We post a mathematics educator's story on the first Sat and following Wed of every month. Subscribe to get email notifications. Share your thoughts and your own resolutions by commenting below!
Please support our work and help us build more spaces like these by donating to our organization here.