What do we need to do to make our math learning spaces fertile for BiPoC thriving?
How can we uncover that which we do not see?
Anita Morales, Racing 2 Excellence and Social Justice Co-founder, and Anita Lenges,
UW Math Teacher Educator, will explore with us how to support affirming joy in math learning.
Anita Lenges began teaching math, chemistry, and Physics in the Peace Corp in
Kenya, followed by 10 years teaching JH math, then a Masters in Math Ed, PhD
in Math Teacher Education, UW Excellence in Teaching award, Post
Doc in preparing teachers for diverse urban schools, The Evergreen State faculty,
and now UW Clinical Professor working with K-12 math teachers, coaches,
principals, and district leaders to support ambitious equitable math teaching.
Anita Garcia Morales - Anita's experience being the perpetual immigrant
student in class and sensing the "otherness" to which her family and ethnic
group were subjected to were what shaped Anita's racial, class, and cultural
lens. The common thread that runs through all that Anita does is her focus on
Social Justice and Racial Equity.
Racing 2 Equity (R2E),
Co-founder,
Class Action Senior Trainer,
Courage & Renewal Circle of Trust Facilitator ,
Positive Discipline Parent & Educator Certified Trainer,
Personal Parenting coach
Spring Dinner - Monday, May 9th, 2022
Being a neuroscientist turned artist, I often contemplate how we get to know
things, especially when it comes to dealing with forms of abstraction. I will
introduce three ideas, iteration, glitch, and embodiment, through three projects:
a collaboration with a mathematician on ceramic 3D printing using elementary
cellular automata algorithms, a recent body of artwork entitled Object Permanence,
and a new art & math course developed with the help of a Mellon Foundation grant
at the University of Washington. In dialogue with the attendees, I will discuss
how these ideas intersect in a research practice and form a bridge between art and mathematics.
Timea Tihanyi is a Teaching Professor in Interdisciplinary Visual Arts at the
University of Washington, and the founder and director of Slip Rabbit, a
technoceramics research and mentoring space in Seattle. Tihanyi serves on the
Advisory Board of the Seattle Universal Math Museum, and has been exhibiting,
speaking, and teaching master courses around the world. Her exhibition,
Object Permanence, is on view until May 29, 2022, at the
Bellevue Arts Museum.
Timea Tihanyi is a Hungarian born interdisciplinary visual artist and ceramist
living and working in Seattle, Washington. Tihanyi holds a Doctor of Medicine
degree from Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary; a BFA in Ceramics from
the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston; and an MFA in ceramics from the
University of Washington.
Winter Dinner - Monday, February 7th, 2022
After diving into mathematics course-taking and the methods and materials
within them, OSPI is working with educators across the state to improve both
the way that we are teaching mathematics and the student access to experience
it in meaningful ways.
Arlene will share information about the new Modern Algebra II course in
development (available for pilot in 2022-23) as well as the Instructional
Materials Review Project that will publish a list of the curricular materials
aligned with Washington Educational Priorities.
Bring questions about these projects and other questions about state mathematics.
Arlene Crum is the Director of Mathematics at the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
As a military spouse she lived, experienced and taught mathematics across the
country, but is now happy to be firmly planted in Washington. She earned a
Bachelor of Science in Secondary Mathematics Education at the University of
Maryland, Master of Education in Administration and Supervision at Bowie State
University, and Principal Certification at Pacific Lutheran University.
Her work includes development of instructional materials to improve student
achievement through implementation of the Standards for Mathematical Practice,
and to increase student connections between mathematics and other subject and
career areas. Arlene partners regularly with Regional Mathematics Coordinators,
Career and Technical Educators and national colleagues to improve access to
high quality instruction for all students through encouraging equitable
scheduling and teaching practices and developing support for multiple graduation
pathways.
Past Dinners:
Fall Dinner - Monday, October 18th, 2021
You might think of math as a set of skills, like doing arithmetic or factoring a quadratic. But math is much more
about building a set of virtues: like persistence, creativity, and a competence to solve problems you've never seen
before. All of us have deep human longings, such as for exploration, beauty, and truth and I'll explain how
math can (and should) meet those desires. and how the resulting virtues will serve you well no matter what you do
in life and no matter what life throws at you. An incarcerated man---now my friend---has helped me see this
more clearly than ever before.
Francis Su is the Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and a former
president of the Mathematical Association of America. In 2013, he received the Haimo Award, a nationwide
teaching prize for college math faculty, and in 2018 he won teh Halmos-Ford writing award. His work has
been featured in Quanta Magazine, Wired, and The New York Times. His book
Mathematics for Human Flourishing (2020), winner of the 2021 Euler Book Prize and finalist for
the Phi Beta Kappa Book Award in Science, is an inclusive vision of what math is, who it is for, and why anyone
should learn it.
Spring Dinner - Monday, May 17th, 2021
Like a leading coefficient, our students may be invisible, and their presence
taken for granted. But in doing so are we, like that leading coefficient,
ignoring their identity and contribution to the whole equation? With all that
is happening in the world around us, we would miss a great opportunity to
celebrate our individual students. Or miss out on a chance to advance
conversations in our classrooms by embracing the role that equity and diversity
should play in mathematics and mathematics education.
7th Grade Principal, Princeton Community Middle School
James is an Ohio kid that finished his high school experience at boarding school
and received a BA from the University of Pennsylvania before returning to the
Midwest to pursue his dream of working with adolescents in math and science.
Armed with degrees, diplomas, and licenses from a prestigious high school, an
Ivy League undergrad, and a local university, he started a career as a secondary
mathematics teacher in Cincinnati Public Schools.
More than once, he was the very first African American male mathematics teacher
many of his students had ever had. Since more than 90 percent of his students
looked just like him, that information had an impact. It was not just important
that he taught his students that HE could do mathematics; it became important
that he showed them that THEY could do mathematics.
In his 20+ years in education, James has taught about every secondary math
course, served as department chair, curriculum council rep and writer, union
vice president, and PD leader. Currently he is the 7th grade principal at
Princeton Community MS in Cincinnati, the most diverse school in the state of
Ohio. For each of those years, he would open his classes saying, "By the end
of this school year, you may not love mathematics as much as I do. But I can
guarantee that we will move the needle away from hatred of the discipline.
Together." Isn't it time that we work on the same thing with our students?
Winter Dinner - Monday, February 8th, 2021
Play has the magical quality of transforming our perspectives as well as that of
our students. Did you know that all different types of play release positive
neurochemicals such as Dopamine, Oxytocin, Endorphins, and Serotonin? That's what
I like to call a daily DOSE of play; and it can do some other great things for us
as a learning community too, increasing curiosity, creativity, communication, and
cooperation. Great tools to cultivate in the quest for growth mindset and honestly
helping each person find their inner mathematician.
MIT Secondary Mathematics, Math 'n Stuff General Manager, Certified Play Expert, Founder of Playing on Purpose
Mikaela is a born and raised Seattleite who has experienced education and play
from many perspectives. Third in a family of six, her oddly formal and informal
educational journey has taken her from a Catholic parish school, to home- and
un-schooling, to a private college-prep high school, small liberal arts college,
teaching assistantship abroad, and finally graduate school in secondary teacher
education in Mathematics.
After a challenging graduate school experience, Mikaela took a job at her
mother's retail store, Math 'n' Stuff, and rediscovered play and joy through
games, ultimate frisbee, and community. At the specialty toy retail trade
association, ASTRA, Mikaela was elated to find there is professional development
for play. She is now just as proud to say she is a Certified Play Expert as to
claim a Master’s in Teaching for Secondary Mathematics.
One of the most memorable moments in the training was the quote from play
researcher Brian Sutton-Smith: "The opposite of play is not work; the opposite
of play is depression." The science and study of play is relatively nascent,
but the findings, especially with respect to learning are clear --
play helps us connect, communicate, collaborate, grow, and be gracious with
ourselves and others; and includes the emotional and physical benefits directly conferred by play.
Fall Dinner - Monday, October 19th, 2020
Saraswati Noel and Starlie Chinen, Phd. Candidates at UW
Supporting Math at Home
Dan Finkel, Founder, Math For Love
Right now more math than ever is taking place at home. How do we help parents develop
the tools they need to have productive math conversations with their kids? How
can we use play as a way to eep math time joyful and light in these heavy times?
Were all figuring it out as we go! I'll share some of what I've tried in my
communications with parents, and some fo the positive opportunities I see for
math at home in this challenging moment.
"After completing my PhD in mathematics and the University of Washington, I decided that teaching math is the
most important contribution I can make to the world. I've devoted much of my life to understanding and teaching
the motivation, history, aesthetics, and deep structure of mathematics. Math is a maligned and mistreated subject,
often mis-taught, often misunderstood. My goal is to give everyone the chance to fall in love with mathematics.
Whether you excel or struggle, whether you're a teacher or student, parent or child, if you want to learn what
math is really about, I can help." --- Dan Finkel