Promoting Equity Through Reasoning, Teaching Children Mathematics

This article, written by 2 university professors, focused on increasing mathematical reasoning, and justification in minority students. The authors implemented an informal, after-school mathematics program. During the program they focused on a variety of fraction based concepts and had the choice to work individually, in pairs, or in groups. The goal for students was to problem solve then convince their peers of their answer. Two specific instances were explained in which this was successfully accomplished. The article concludes with 5 suggestions for teachers to out these ideas into action: Give students options for grouping, differentiate instruction through giving adequate time and extension options, let students share their ideas with the class, choose tools and tasks carefully, and hold high standards for all students.

I think that this article makes very excellent points. I am a huge proponent of the belief of the belief that every student can learn and these teachers should not only hold high expectations for all students, but also make these expectations known to students. No wonder many minority students are not achieving at the same level of their minority counterparts, since they often are being held to lower standards in the classroom and are not being given adequate opportunities to share in "thoughtful mathematics opportunities". I particularly liked the 5 suggestions to teachers at the end of the article. So often, I read educational journal articles and am left wondering, "How exactly can I implement this in a way that will work for me?" This article spells it out for teachers.