“Living with the tensions, while nurturing relationships”

 I want us to create a sense of community in this space among various stakeholders (researchers, teachers, community members, students) wherein common goals can help bridge differences in approach or experience. 

" I would like to create a space where everyone participating in the project (teachers, community members, students, us…) feel safe to share their experiences and knowledge and that this is valued for everyone else. "

"Each member should be able to use their expertise to then create our goals as a group and the ways to challenge dominant ideologies, and create more equitable mathematics practices". 

"I would like to see the teachers, community partners and researchers grow together as a community that is comfortable getting into uncomfortable spaces, that keep students at the center of their hearts and minds, and that develops really awesome tools and frameworks for mathematics teachers who are committed to learning to notice expansively".

Lastly, I hope we will be open to the idea of incommensurability in how people will discuss “noticing” (e.g. the tensions and contradictions between standpoints), not as things that need to be resolved, but as things that generate more questions.

 I think my heart will know when there is a sense that we are all in this together and we can each contribute to the construction and realization of this project. I’m not sure I know how to gauge how others are feeling and what others are committed to in the work. I’m trying to learn to listen more and step back and give others space; I’m not sure this is the right approach. 

Teachers: Feel challenged, empowered and excited to do the work. Begin to own the noticing team meetings (together with the community leaders) and the development of tools and frameworks. 

Community Leaders: See their place in a “math-focused” grant; make it their own.  Exercising their authority over what counts as “noticing” expansively.  

Distinctions between our roles become less noticeable and important. Shared vision for the research (but not necessarily the meanings of “equity” and “good teaching” and what is valued about these).  In other words, people stay true to their positionality and their strengths, and we learn to cherish the differences among us. Living with the tensions, while nurturing relationships. 

“Each member should be able to use their expertise”

“ I would like to see how everyone is valued and honored for their skills and strengths” 

“I want to create a space where each of the participants feel their expertise is honored”

 “...we as researchers may see this project differently than teachers and community members since teachers are teaching and facing their own inequities in the classroom on a full time basis. How do we balance professional and personal investments in this project for all involved?”

“Working in a community formed by people with different expertise really excites me, and I think I could talk about it with all my teacher friends and let them know how we honor their knowledge and experiences in this project.”

“the joy I experience listening to these teachers talk about what they do and why they do it and how committed they are to the students in their classrooms, to their communities”

“curator of conversations, relationships, settings that can bring people together who don’t come together typically and create a space for conversations to happen; shifting the roles of who is shaping those conversations - what they look like, who leads them”

“contribute my expertise to help with the project, and also gain/ learn from others’ expertise.”

1) Even though this project is “about teachers”, how do we ensure that community members, youth workers, etc. are equally valued as interlocutors and not a means to an end.

"Moreover, none of the interlocutors’ social positions or expertise are elevated over the others. E.G. Youth workers and community members aren’t positioned in the space merely in the service of the teachers or advancing “teacher noticing”, but rather as interlocutors in interrogating and understanding what noticing looks like from different standpoints. "

A point of concern for me is that we as researchers may see this project differently than teachers and community members since teachers are teaching and facing their own inequities in the classroom on a full time basis. How do we balance professional and personal investments in this project for all involved? 

“...how to bring conversations about rigorous mathematics in synthesis with equity work.”

I want to make sure we don't lose sight of the" rich and rigorous math that it is going to take place in it.

I always feel the tension of how to bring conversations about rigorous mathematics in synthesis with equity work.

“I want to make sure we keep our sight on what is important to me which is the potential to help teachers/researchers reimagine what is possible in mathematics learning”

" I also want to see us curate materials and resources that can become usable by others - developing representations with the teachers of their practice and noticing as a way to further develop communities committed to advancing equity in mathematics - and more broadly the profession of teaching. "

"What would make me proud… If the teachers see that they are in roles that can improve the profession - that the work of teaching gets improved by the work they do and their expertise. "

"If we can leverage expertise and ideas from the various participants in ways to design an environment for teachers to come together to ask hard questions about their practice and engage in challenging/ difficult conversations about improving teaching and learning;"

“those truly committed to teaching and learning are moving from “thinking” about diverse differences within social and political context toward “feeling” them.”

“have their voices heard in meaningful ways from a space of creativity and imagination.”

“move from noticing to noticing for equity”

"Social justice praxis - having dialogues about race, gender, power, etc. and their intersections"

"I will know if when I think about the project, I feel good in knowing that those truly committed to teaching and learning are moving from “thinking” about diverse differences within social and political context toward “feeling” them. I believe that opening the heart and honoring emotion as a part of our whole sensing self - showing up in all learning ‘disciplines’"

"I want us to be conscious in this space of disrupting traditional power dynamics and hierarchies to develop a space where equity is intentional and inherent in its design". 

"I would be very honored to know that as a team we created a sense of belonging and valued everyone’s sensibilities, but also recognized that at times we should center marginalized voices and other sensibilities and knowledges that are non dominant. "

"I would be very honored to know that as a team we created a sense of belonging and valued everyone’s sensibilities, but also recognized that at times we should center marginalized voices and other sensibilities and knowledges that are non dominant. 

I would also be honored in having valued community mentors/leaders and also family members as teachers and as meaning makers who influence learning beyond classroom walls and see where and how these overlap with teacher approaches.

I’m glad to be a part of this project because I see the inequities in the world and my sense is that one way to go about addressing them is to shift power structures - by positioning people in new roles; by allowing a range of perspectives and voices to lead important work; I hope I can live up to a standard through my participation of disrupting the hierarchies that dominate whose voices get heard to improve teaching and learning (e.g. academics vs teachers/ practitioners; white scholars and scholars of color)

As one of the PIs, one of the things I think about is how to position others to take on more central roles while also trying to provide some leadership. I am not sure how to do this and would like to engage with the project team to figure this out so that I can lead when necessary (if at all) but really help us shift leadership so that it’s distributed among the group.

“...I  see the inequities in the world and my sense is that one way to go about addressing them is to shift power structures - by positioning people in new roles…”