The school provides many needs including dental, eye, mental and other health screenings. As a neighborhood and community school, only students living in the community can attend. The community is predominantly African American (approximately 95%) and the school percentage is similar. My building is the largest K-5 Elementary School in the city with approximately 500 students. I teach 4th and 5 th students math and social studies in the urban setting of the Pittsburgh Public School District. 3 “If the curriculum we use to teach our children does not connect in positive ways to the culture young people bring to school, it is doomed to failure.” Additionally, in “What is Mathematics, Really?,” Reuben Hersh says, “If mathematics is conceived apart from mathematical life, of course it seems – dead.” 4 I want my scholars alive and ready for the world socially and mathematically! Demographics In ““Multiplication is for White People:” Raising Expectations for Other People’s Children,” Lisa Delpit proposes that one reason “why African American students are not achieving at levels commensurate with their ability,” is due to the curricular content. By focusing on decimal place value in my students’ world by connecting to the past, present, and future, I hope to develop and increase a positive self-identity, purpose, and hope in all my scholars. Place value is the foundation of basic mathematics and, if not mastered in the elementary grades, often makes working with operations more difficult as well as learning higher levels of mathematics much more challenging. Place value includes not only the position and the value of digits but also the decomposition of numbers and a number’s relationship to other numbers in the base ten system. I want to help my students achieve a wholesome and more conceptual understanding of place value. 2 Students spend thousands of hours in classrooms learning sets of procedures and rules that they will never use, in their lives or in their work.” It is my goal with this unit for students to see and do the math in their world. In “Mathematical Mindsets,” Jo Boaler says, “Over the years, school mathematics has become more and more disconnected from the mathematics that mathematicians use and the mathematics of life. It is my firm belief that students need to see that math is important in their day-to-day lives and experiences, or they become disengaged and uninterested, as is the case. They see math as irrelevant and too difficult. In this case, my scholars struggle in math and have some poor academic habits.

A lack of social connection can often put people at risk for bad habits. Social connections such as friendships, teacher-student relationships and closeness to the community, are known to be closely related to well-being and personal happiness. This will also help foster stronger relationships with my scholars, which essentially makes teaching so amazing! Given their lack of interest in math, it is my hope that making these connections will increase their motivation, effort, and positive behavior which will then enable increased math development. While being culturally responsive does not solely mean using racial pride to motivate students, I will focus on positive self-identity, purpose, and hope by connecting math to the past, present, and future of my students’ race and culture. 1 She says to “Gamify,” “Make it Social,” and “Storify” lessons to make them more culturally responsive. Hammond recommends three ways to do this. To encourage and inspire them to believe in themselves, this unit will be culturally responsive. I intend to put things in place to empower my scholars. I want to inspire them to have a strong conviction in themselves. My students need to know that I believe in them no matter the circumstance. While children continue to face adversity in urban communities, the song is empowering.

It was released in 2002 but remains relevant for students today. If I work hard at it, I’ll be where I want to be.” These lyrics are from a song titled “I Can,” by a rap artist that goes by the name Nas. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew giving up was not an option.

In all my ten years of teaching (in another district), I had never encountered such negativity. It hurt to hear them refer to themselves as the “dumb class.” They often believed every negative thing they heard about themselves and ignored anything positive. It showed up in every aspect it possibly could, but mostly in their words to me about themselves. I was unexpectedly met with a group of 5 th grade demoralized students who had given up on math and themselves. They were unmotivated, effort-deficient, and badly behaved this past year. Decimal Place Value: A Culturally Responsive Approach by Krystal L.

Terry reilly homedale idaho