Big Numbers, Small Numbers

Introduction

They were unmotivated, effort-deficient, and badly behaved this past year. I was unexpectedly met with a group of 5^th grade demoralized students who had given up on math and themselves. It showed up in every aspect it possibly could, but mostly in their words to me about themselves. 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. In all my ten years of teaching (in another district), I had never encountered such negativity. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew giving up was not an option. So here I am, developing this unit.

“I know I can-- be what I want to be. 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. It was released in 2002 but remains relevant for students today. While children continue to face adversity in urban communities, the song is empowering. My students need to know that I believe in them no matter the circumstance. I want to inspire them to have a strong conviction in themselves.

I intend to put things in place to empower my scholars. To encourage and inspire them to believe in themselves, this unit will be culturally responsive. Zaretta P. Hammond recommends three ways to do this.¹ She says to “Gamify,” “Make it Social,” and “Storify” lessons to make them more culturally responsive. 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. 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. This will also help foster stronger relationships with my scholars, which essentially makes teaching so amazing!

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. A lack of social connection can often put people at risk for bad habits. In this case, my scholars struggle in math and have some poor academic habits. They see math as irrelevant and too difficult. 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. 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.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.

I want to help my students achieve a wholesome and more conceptual understanding of place value. 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. 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. 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.

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.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

I teach 4th and 5^th students math and social studies in the urban setting of the Pittsburgh Public School District. My building is the largest K-5 Elementary School in the city with approximately 500 students. The community is predominantly African American (approximately 95%) and the school percentage is similar. As a neighborhood and community school, only students living in the community can attend. The school provides many needs including dental, eye, mental and other health screenings. The school has partnerships with various outside organizations that provide services including, but not limited to: mental health, mentorship, gardening, ESTEAM (Entrepreneurship, Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) activities, abuse prevention, conflict management, therapeutic services, a college prep program, and academic and tutoring support. Despite having school services and community resources such as a community college branch campus, churches, a YMCA, restaurants, convenience stores, barbershops, and other facilities and businesses, the community where my school is located is impoverished. Nearly 90% of the students in the building are considered economically disadvantaged. The median income is approximately $29,000 which is barely half of Pittsburgh’s median of $56,000.⁵ The community has high unemployment, poverty, & crime rates. In the 2016-2017 school year, 84% of the third graders, 87% of the 4^th graders and 95% of the 5^th graders scored below grade level in mathematics.

This year, I anticipate a similar group of students, but the difference is, I know many of the students, have a better understanding of how the school works, who the students and their families are, and what the community has to offer. These are things I had to learn this past year. I now have time to prepare myself, and I am working to set the stage up for my students’ success.