The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ 2025 Annual Meeting features sessions on ‘Black Feminist Mathematics’ pedagogy, antiracist math, equitable grading, social justice, and whiteness

Incidents

SUMMARY

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 2025 Annual Meeting & Exposition features sessions that include antiracist math, “Black Feminist Mathematics” pedagogy, culturally responsive teaching, equitable assessment or grading, equitable math teaching, social emotional learning (SEL), social justice and whiteness.

The event, slated for mid-October, states that this year’s meeting will “honor the historical and contemporary contributions of mathematics educators to classrooms and communities” and “celebrate and elevate the creative teaching practices that have transformed math learning for each and every student.”

KEY TAKEAWAYS

SESSIONS

Interactive Workshop: Black Feminist Mathematics Pedagogies: Implications for Teaching from a Curricular Analysis

The session Interactive Workshop: Black Feminist Mathematics Pedagogies: Implications for Teaching from a Curricular Analysis states that “many teachers are hungry to find ways to support multiply marginalized students (e.g., intersection of race, disability, sexuality), yet do not feel there are tangible ways to do so” and that “academics argue that educators must go beyond intolerance of -isms or admission of privilege and grapple with ways they enact violence against students, families, and communities.”

The session takes up “theories of anti-Blackness (Dumas, 2016) and white supremacy culture (Okun, 2021) to unpack educational practices that create and sustain violence and identify actionable alternatives.”

It continues: “BlackFMP is a framework born from studies of Black girls in mathematics classrooms. Building on Critical Race Feminism (Evans-Winters & Love, 2015; Wing, 1997), Black Feminist Thought (Collins, 2022; Leyva, 2021), and intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989), BlackFMP details four dimensions: Academic and Social Integration, Robust Mathematics Identities, Critical Consciousness and Reclamation, and Ambitious Mathematics Instruction.”

Reflecting on My Whiteness: Unpacking the Barriers towards Transformative Mathematics Teaching

The session Reflecting on My Whiteness: Unpacking the Barriers towards Transformative Mathematics Teaching states that “Mathematics education has long been a white, patriarchal space” and in order to “promote social justice, teachers must critically reflect on their assumptions, beliefs, and role within whiteness ideology.”

The workshop shares the presenter’s “journey in transforming” her “teaching to a culturally responsive model, rooted in love, joy, and challenge” and offers “strategies to confront the oppressive forces of whiteness and take practical steps to dismantle inequitable practices, unlocking the brilliance of every student.”

Iron Sharpens Iron: Black Womxn in Mathematics Education (BWXME) Speak

The session Iron Sharpens Iron: Black Womxn in Mathematics Education (BWXME) Speak states that “Black Womxn in Mathematics Education disrupts systems of oppression by challenging marginality and privilege within mathematical spaces, nurturing Black Womxn’s mathematical agency, and engendering a sense of belonging coupled with Black Girl Joy.”

It continues: “BWXME is a collective founded to value Black culture, voice, influence, and expertise in the mathematics education arena. We build each member’s capacity and empower the lives of Black youth in mathematics while we collectively elevate each other.”

Envisioning Antiracist Spaces for Mathematics Teaching and Leadership

The description for the session Envisioning Antiracist Spaces for Mathematics Teaching and Leadership states that “participants will engage in Marian’s journey in implementing antiracist math practices that ensured the mathematics success of her elementary students as well as solidifying strong relationships with students and families that are still intact decades later.” The session will also “discuss what antiracist leadership really means.”

Implementing Equitable Grading Practices in the Math Classroom

The session Implementing Equitable Grading Practices in the Math Classroom asks attendees if they are “looking for equitable grading practices to align with your equitable teaching practices.” Presenters will “share their journey towards effective, equitable, and transparent grading practices” and provide “grading frameworks, standards-based rubrics, and other tools that can be implemented immediately in the classroom.”

Critically Conscious Math Mentoring: Work with Future Teachers to Advocate for Equitable Classrooms

The session Critically Conscious Math Mentoring: Work with Future Teachers to Advocate for Equitable Classrooms explores “strategies to guide PTs in fostering reflection on sociopolitical conditions, building empathy, and taking action to challenge oppressive systems” and advocates for “change in and out of the mathematics classroom emphasizing how mathematics mentoring can build justice-oriented learning communities.”

Teacher Education and Preparation

What is Antiracist Math Teaching? Perspectives of Elementary Preservice Teachers

The description for the session Teacher Education Preparation: What is Antiracist Math Teaching? Perspectives of Elementary Preservice Teachers states that it will discuss findings from research that asked, “What are elementary preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) conceptions about anti-racist math teaching?”

It continues: “…we find that close to 60% of the PSTs had understandings about antiracist math teaching that aligned with mainstream views of math teaching and learning. Specifically, the responses of PSTs in this category equated antiracist math teaching to equitable, culturally responsive, and inclusive teaching without any explicit connections to race. We also find that the other 40% of the PSTs had conceptions that viewed math teaching and learning as racialized forms of experience.”

Playing Around with Measures of Center: From Double Dutch to Social Justice

The session Playing Around with Measures of Center: From Double Dutch to Social Justice states that it will “explore strategies that support student interest in and success with making sense of measures of center through tasks that involve meaningful contexts, collaborative discourse, critical thinking, and connections to social justice.” It will also include an “examination of five elements of Equitable and Engaging Teaching – plan around big ideas; use open, engaging tasks; teach toward social justice.”

Democracy and Data: Teaching Math as a Tool for Sound Decision-Making

The session Democracy and Data: Teaching Math as a Tool for Sound Decision-Making states that “In an era where social justice and equity are at the forefront of educational discourse, and where data are ubiquitous, mathematics education must evolve beyond traditional paradigms to include data literacy and its impact on society.”

It will focus on the “importance of data skills to participation in democracy and how these skills can be taught within math courses.”

SEL: What’s Math Got to Do With It?

The session SEL: What’s Math Got to Do With It? focuses on strengthening “SEL in your classroom by prioritizing the Social Emotional and Academic Development (SEAD) themes: Agency, Belonging, Discourse, and Identity.”

The Keys to Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice Lessons

The session The Keys to Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice Lessons states that attendees will “earn the keys to effectively engaging children, what teaching mathematics for social justice is, and how to implement a teaching mathematics for social justice lesson in your classroom.”