Restoring the Dignity and Hope of Students of Color through Equitable Math Practices in the Classroom

Dr. India White

Dignity is defined as “the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect.” Many students of color do not feel the same amount of dignity and self-worth as their peers. This can be attributed to a lack of diversity and representation in leadership, as well as poor communication that might exist between students of color and their teachers. In order to assure that all students are embraced in the classroom, there should be socio-emotional supports in place to fuel their hope and restore their dignity during the learning process. 

In their article on the Conditions of Students, the National School Board Association dissected findings from the  National report card in regard to dropout rates, reporting that Nationwide, the overall dropout rate decreased from 9.7% in 2006 to 5.3% in 2018. During this time, the dropout rate for Black students decreased from 11.5% to 6.4%. Nevertheless, the dropout rate for Black students remained higher than that for white students (4.2%). From their findings, they reported these unfortunate facts regarding students of color and their status as scholars:

• The poverty rate is still the highest for Black students.
• A lack of internet access at home has become a barrier for Black students to learn.
• A high percentage of Black students attend high-poverty schools.
• More Black students with disabilities receive services for emotional disturbances.
• The disproportion between Black students and Black teachers has not been improved.
• The achievement gap between Black and white students has not been closed.
• School dropout rate keeps high among Black students.
• Graduation rates and college enrollment rates remain low among Black students.

In order to properly address what is causing these unfortunate findings, there must be true introspection as to the self-worth of students of color and how teachers can help cultivate their sense of belonging, value, and worth in the classroom. To truly understand steps towards building the self-esteem and dignity of students of color, Geneva Gay addresses her framework on Culturally Responsive Teaching and how expert and Researcher Gloria Ladson-Billings properly identified three goals in her Culturally Relevant Pedagogy that is cohesive in the effective implementation teacher practices stating, “First, teaching must yield academic success. Second, teaching must help students develop positive ethnic and cultural identities while simultaneously helping them achieve academically. Third, teaching must support students’ ability “to recognize, understand, and critique current and social inequalities.”

When considering Ladson-Billing’s third goal, she mentions how teachers must understand and critique social inequalities. It is necessary for teachers to have the proper tools and supports needed to do this so they can relate to students that come from diverse backgrounds, and or backgrounds that differ from theirs. Here are some tips for teachers in restoring the dignity and hope of students of color in the math classroom.

Tips for Restoring Dignity and Hope

1.    Convince Each Learner that they are valuable

a.    Teachers have an advantage to support students in their social and emotional wellbeing as well as finding opportunities to build the self-esteem of their learners. In their mixed method study on title, “Self-esteem and academic achievement: a comparative study of adolescent students in England and the United States”, Booth et al. (2011) found that there was a significant pattern found in the level of self-esteem and math achievement in both of these samples of students, and that cultural expectations regarding gender-appropriate skills may influence self-esteem, especially for students from the United States. With these findings in mind, teachers can truly benefit from connecting with students’ culture in a positive light while teaching mathematics in the classroom. Further, students will feel respected and know that they have worth and are valuable in the classroom.

2.    Have No Respecter of Persons

a.    Students are very cognizant of teachers who play “favorites”. The aspect of teachers preferring various learners over others does negatively impact student achievement and student morale in the classroom. Teacher favoritism, also now as “Teacher Bias”, is influenced by various factors, including expectations and judgments (e.g., sociocultural and economic background, current lifestyle, primary language spoken, skin color, gender, and on and on). However, as intersectionality research highlights, delineating the impact of these variables is complex. For example, some studies suggest that teachers’ perceptions of students’ academic achievements are generally independent of student demographic characteristics – with the exception that teachers tend to overestimate some academic abilities of girls, especially in terms of language abilities (Sorhagen, 2013). Given these factors, it is tempting for teachers to develop a habit of playing favorites to students with features and lifestyles that they can relate to. In order to assure that teachers can remain fair and eliminate biases, they must be intentional about not being a respecter of persons during instructional delivery, or during their interaction with all students. This will protect the dignity and self-worth of each learner, which will enhance their ability to perform academically.

3.    Take Interest in their Culture

a.    When teachers are tasked with teaching students from various backgrounds, it is difficult to make connections with them if they don’t first understand and get to know their students. It is imperative for teachers to be proactive at understanding their students, their cultures and their unique preferences in order to connect with them and not offend them in any way. For instance, teachers may assume that a student that looks them directly in the eyes when talking is a sign of respect; however, this form of communication is known to be disrespectful in other cultures outside of the American culture. Hence, teachers must take time to introspect and examine the steps they’ve taken truly know their students. Once students have developed a relationship with their learners and their families, then they can continue to cultivate that relationship by taking interest in their cultures and ways of life. This will truly have a positive impact on the teacher to student relationship and the overall educational dynamics the students will encounter in the classroom. This will increase the overall student morale and support from the teachers to their students. As teachers are intentional about learning about their students’ values and culture, it will increase the hope and value needed for students of color to achieve academically in the classroom.

4.    Be Transparent

a.    Teachers are often taught to begin their first days of school as a firm teacher, enforcing rules and procedures as mentioned in Harry Wong’s First Days of School book. However, as time progresses, some teachers remain stern, and ultimately damage their relationships with their students. This is due to some teachers not knowing how to be transparent and vulnerable with their students. When this happens, there is a lack of personal connection and trust exchanged between teachers and their students. Students of color are known to value teachers who share components of themselves with their learners including appropriate stories in which they can relate with their students, and student achievement increased for learners of color who had teachers that were transparent during instruction. Through teacher transparency, students can have their hope restored as they strive for academic success.

5.    Address Personal Biases

a.    Sometimes, teachers can be uneducated on the various inequities that exist for students of color due to personal biases and experiences that they might experience firsthand. To properly address the concerns of all learners, teachers must be willing to embrace a growth mindset and empathy as they learn from various experiences of students of color. Teachers must choose to care enough about their students of color to believe them when they talk about their experiences, and then find a way to be proactive to ensure that students of color do not experience inequities in their classroom. Teachers can also become proactive regarding addressing biases or opinions they encounter by choosing to take action for the success of all learners in the math classroom. As they do this, students of color will feel dignified and empowered as they learn math.

Conclusion

           As teachers grapple with strategies and key concepts for improving student achievement, it is imperative that they embrace various practices including convincing learners that they are valuable, having no respecter of persons, remaining transparent, and addressing personal biases so that they can relate with all students while restoring their dignity and hope in the math classroom. When teachers understand the power, they have to cultivate the social and emotional growth of learners as well along with their self-esteem, they will improve their abilities to help all students of color evolve into confidence successful mathematicians in their classroom. May every teacher embrace an open mind as they enjoy the beauty of accepting students of color while restoring their hope and dignity in the math classroom. May the sky be the limit!