Hi Liza,

I will never forget an emerging-multilingual middle school student in my first student teaching placement. Embodiment (a term I've just now learned from you; thanks!) made it clear she was deeply engaged and growing when tracking her writing and/or speech would never have clued me in!

For inclusive, anti-bias pedagogy, I've loved the 5 Practices book for science instruction (co-published by NSTA and NCTM). It's a lot of great teaching practices strung together into a powerful routine!

Thanks for the reminder that equity work is a compass. I've kept trying to learn and make changes in my own context over the past few years, and the framework of a direction, rather than a destination, is one that's been helpful with students as they mark the process of change and milestones along the way.

Finally, I'm curious about how your preservice teachers' experiences and understandings of equity have shifted in recent years. Do you reflect those experiences in the equity vignettes? (I'd love to learn more about that practice in general!)

:) Kirstin

I enjoyed the video and resources. Couldn't wait to share!

https://stemtlnet.org/video-showcase/huffman-high-school-empowering-stem-educational-leaders#comment-702

Watch AND COMMENT on:

Huffman High School: Empowering STEM Educational Leaders

Presented by:

Candyce A. Curry

Dear Liza,

Thank you so much for sharing your work with your teachers and helping them to explore themselves as mathematicians, learners, and to explore their own implicit biases.  I took a course through Achieve the Core, Dismantling Racism in Mathematics and it was a true game changer for me as an educator and learner.  This self-awareness is so important for us to truly be there for our students.

Flo Falatko

https://stemtlnet.org/video-showcase/using-literature-promote-equity-steam

Hi, Liza.

Thank you for sharing all of your resources!

Have you had any challenges (push-back) when introducing those resources? (from students, teachers, and/or parents/ guardian) If yes, how did you address those challenges? What advice would you offer to those who (new) teachers who are being challenged?

Hi !

   Taking your learning, beliefs, and practices, how has that translated to learning with your pre-service teachers?  Also, have you seen them apply these practices in classrooms authentically?   Have you seen a shift in pre-service teachers' lens on equity?

Biases is based in personal experiences, each individual has unique experiences. As educators we can not assume all of our students have the same experiences!

This is so important in establishing relationships and the impact that we as teachers can have on students.

But to be STEM focused, STEM is based on phenomenon.  Real-world common experiences, so we first have to know what students experience and can relate to.  I live in rural northern Michigan, I am sure my students have different phenomenon than an inner city student of Flint.  

We must find the students' norms and paradyms and work from theirs not ours.

Biases absolutely do matter and we all have them.

Learning happens in the process of doing, and scholars truly learn best when  all their needs are being met.  I have not used the resources but plan exploring  them.  

Thanks for sharing many practical ways for teachers to do necessary self work so they advance learning for all students being served.

I wonder if you are familiar with the work of Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz? 
Truth, Love, and Racial Literacy

I took a screenshot of the book page because 5 Practices and Building Thinking Classrooms have already been so great--thanks for curating such a good set of resources!

Thank you for all of your hard work.  I continually strive to recognize my own biases.  Does any of the work include LGBTQ?  I agree with Andy that because we all bring different experiences to the classroom, it is important to understand/be aware so that we are not being discriminatory in how we present materials and lessons.