Coming off another great NCTM Annual Conference, Dylan shared his thoughts, Matt wrote about his, Christopher blogged about his talk, as did Megan who shared a powerful story, and Michael wrote a strong reflection. All of them are worth reading. Then, the other night, I saw this come across the screen from Jose Vilson:
The conversation I’d like to have with the math community on here, #MTBoS or otherwise, is: who gets recognized as a teacher of maths?
— Jose Vilson (@TheJLV) April 11, 2017
Going back to the list of NCTM reflections above, I notice a common trend...
I don't disagree with Jose's insinuation of an overwhelming whiteness to the Math Twitter Blog-o-Sphere as he continued his thread, just like the whiteness of education-based Twitter, yet I do have to look at the range for which the MTBoS represents. After all, who is the MTBoS? Is it some distinct and defined group?
Take a look the through the MTBoS Directory (created by Jed Butler) and see the different voices and faces who self-identify.
To me, the MTBoS is a gay man in Connecticut, a "seasoned veteran" woman in Central California, a married black man with two kids in New York, a single latina woman in Illinois, a (pregnant! Yay, congrats!) gay woman in Colorado, a married white woman in North Carolina with three kids, a tall white Christian man in Southern California, an atheist man in Pennsylvania, a very short white woman in Mississippi, a free-speaking Vietnamese woman in Southern California, a new-to-Twitter black woman in Michigan, a very shy man from Canada, and a whole bunch more.
I'm not going to say that "I don't see color" because it's simply not true. I would also assume that the people with whom I associate would feel the same way. What I will say is that I have been much more cognizant of my interactions lately, and learning from others' experiences and perspectives.
With that, Jose's thread and comments about inclusivity from others has gotten me thinking. THIS EXISTS! So here's an idea, free for someone to take and run with:
The “who we are” section of mathtwitterblogosphere.weebly.com could be turned into something amazing. At the top of the blog page, it would invite people to nominate someone who embodies the MTBoS (maybe through a Google Form?). For each nomination, it would collect a link to the nominee's Twitter profile and a description about why that person represents their vision of the MTBoS. The nominee would then get a personal invitation to submit their bio information, a photo or video, and instructions for how to do so, if they wanted to participate.
Simple. It would take some time to maintain, and I am willing to help, but I'm not going to run it. Tina, Sam, Justin, and Julie are probably going to be onboard with it as well... Oh, and bonus points if you are a non-white and non-dude who steps up to the plate.
Thoughts? Is it worthwhile? Would that make people feel more included?
Happy "We All Belong Here" Fishing
(Big thanks to Kate for helping with the wording)
I don't disagree with Jose's insinuation of an overwhelming whiteness to the Math Twitter Blog-o-Sphere as he continued his thread, just like the whiteness of education-based Twitter, yet I do have to look at the range for which the MTBoS represents. After all, who is the MTBoS? Is it some distinct and defined group?
Take a look the through the MTBoS Directory (created by Jed Butler) and see the different voices and faces who self-identify.
To me, the MTBoS is a gay man in Connecticut, a "seasoned veteran" woman in Central California, a married black man with two kids in New York, a single latina woman in Illinois, a (pregnant! Yay, congrats!) gay woman in Colorado, a married white woman in North Carolina with three kids, a tall white Christian man in Southern California, an atheist man in Pennsylvania, a very short white woman in Mississippi, a free-speaking Vietnamese woman in Southern California, a new-to-Twitter black woman in Michigan, a very shy man from Canada, and a whole bunch more.
I'm not going to say that "I don't see color" because it's simply not true. I would also assume that the people with whom I associate would feel the same way. What I will say is that I have been much more cognizant of my interactions lately, and learning from others' experiences and perspectives.
With that, Jose's thread and comments about inclusivity from others has gotten me thinking. THIS EXISTS! So here's an idea, free for someone to take and run with:
The “who we are” section of mathtwitterblogosphere.weebly.com could be turned into something amazing. At the top of the blog page, it would invite people to nominate someone who embodies the MTBoS (maybe through a Google Form?). For each nomination, it would collect a link to the nominee's Twitter profile and a description about why that person represents their vision of the MTBoS. The nominee would then get a personal invitation to submit their bio information, a photo or video, and instructions for how to do so, if they wanted to participate.
Simple. It would take some time to maintain, and I am willing to help, but I'm not going to run it. Tina, Sam, Justin, and Julie are probably going to be onboard with it as well... Oh, and bonus points if you are a non-white and non-dude who steps up to the plate.
Thoughts? Is it worthwhile? Would that make people feel more included?
Happy "We All Belong Here" Fishing
(Big thanks to Kate for helping with the wording)
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