I am currently an associate professor of mathematics education in the College of Education at Michigan State University and serve as the Associate Director of Elementary Programs. I started teaching 25 years ago, beginning my work as a high school mathematics teacher for six years, including three years as a founding teacher in an alternative high school to support students labeled as not succeeding by the system. To this day, the students I taught in that setting remain some of the brightest and most creative individuals I have had the pleasure to know. For the last 15 years, I have volunteered in elementary math classrooms and studied elementary mathematics education. Throughout my career, I have facilitated professional development with teachers and been an instructor of prospective math teachers as they aim to explicitly consider equity and justice in order to meet the needs of all learners in inquiry-based, heterogeneous, equitable classrooms.
I am passionate about learning about and supporting teachers in developing equitable mathematics instructional practices that recognize and transgress systemic inequity. I understand that issues of culture, race, ethnicity, identity, and power etc. influence students' opportunities to learn and teachers' opportunities to teach mathematics and that these factors must be explicitly discussed and addressed if we hope to fully support equitable mathematics teaching and learning. I am honored to have participated in the writing of this book and in continued efforts supporting mathematics education that explores, understands, and responds to social injustice and supports students' learning of mathematics.
