A few people asked me to post my acceptance speech... I felt so honored by my nominators from my Noyce Community from Champaign and Larry Geni (www.thegeniproject.org). Without further ado...
ICTM AWARD ACCEPTANCE SPEECH Thank you. For me, to be promising means to be hoping. And my hope for education, specifically mathematics education, is that it empowers all students, particularly our students of color and those who are traditionally marginalized. As mathematics teachers, I think it’s easy for us to think that issues of power, class, race, and history are for the other humanities classes to tackle… But a moment’s reflection would prove otherwise. Consider the mathematicians listed in our textbooks. How many of them are white? How many are mathematicians of color? Consider our schools, who’s sitting in our honors and AP classes? Who’s sitting in our lowest levels? Or perhaps consider in our own classrooms, who is receiving A’s and who are barely passing? These disparities point to a broken system. As mathematics teachers, we know that we are the gate keepers to professions that are often more lucrative. Will we also be gate openers? These are worthwhile questions and worthy of discussion, which is why I hope you will consider joining me in the Nepantla Teachers Community, a small group of us that carves space to ask and answer: how do we start to mend our broken system with empathy, respect, and mathematics? Because the greater the challenge, the greater the need for community. Thank you again to the award selection committee and my nominators for this honor to be here in front of you today.
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