Challenging Stereotypical Assumptions
Click on the title of the seminar to watch the seminar on our Youtube channel.
Speaker: Jenny Stacey
This presentation includes a summary of Jenny’s research findings, with reference to the age, gender, and ethnicity of participants. She challenge the deficit model of ESOL learners in GCSE mathematics classes, regardless of gender or age, using the insights gained during the research phase. Jenny also include some of the recommendations that she will make at CPD (teacher development) sessions, on approaches which may be beneficial for adult learners generally.
Jenny says “ I will present a list of possible approaches for consideration. It isn’t possible in a busy maths class to include all of the ideas, so the idea is that people will pick what they feel might work best for them, i.e. the approaches are descriptive, not prescriptive. We will use a a padlet to capture other ideas that attendees have used or thought of, which would give a good resource link which we will share afterwards.”
About Jenny Stacey
Jenny has taught mathematics in an FE college since 2005, specialising in the delivery of mathematics to adults and ESOL/EAL/ELL learners. She has a master’s degree in education, which includes ESOL, and is currently completing a thesis for a Doctorate in Education. Her research interests include the delivery of mathematics in further education generally, and mathematics and examination anxiety in both adults and 16–18-year-old learners.
Previous Virtual Seminar presentations can be found at our YouTube Channel !!
The topic of the previous seminar 2022/23 was Maths in Prisons.
The titles and speakers were:
- Erik van Haren and Rosa Alberto – HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht – Maths in prison
- Sarah Howe – Maths teacher in Australian prison
- Tatiana Harrison – Credentialed teacher at the local youth detention facility and community school (expelled/excluded) classrooms in California.
Click on the titles of the seminars to watch them on our Youtube channel.
Abstract – Erik van Haren and Rosa Alberto – Erasmus+ Project on Maths in Prison
HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht (the Netherlands) and the prison institute Plock (Poland) work together in the Erasmus+ project “Math in Prison” to create tools to enhance the numeracy competences and attitudes of prisoners. In this session we share experiences and results of a 15-unit course that was taught to a class of 15 particpants. We discuss participants’ engagements, changes in numeracy competences and attitudes and usability of the lesson materials.
Bio – Erik van Haren
Erik van Haren, M.Ed, works at HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht in the research group Mathematical and Analytical Competences of Professionals. He conducts research into the psychology that promotes learning and shares his passion about ‘Math joy’, motivation, mindset and activating work forms during lectures and workshops. During his more than 20 years as a first-grade math teacher, he immersed himself in self-discovery learning and mathematical thinking. He is the founder of Mathplay learning mathematics playfully and author of ‘Math joy, improve your mindset by daring, doing and understanding’.
Bio – Rosa Alberto
Rosa Alberto is a researcher at HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht in the research group Mathematical and Analytical Competences of Professionals. Rosa Alberto’s interests and experiences focus on the learning of people with a particular interest in learning mathematics. Within the research group she – at a national and European level – works on awareness and tools for improving people’s numeracy skills, essential but underexposed basic skills in the 21st-century society.
Abstract – Sara Howe
Personal reflection on what makes maths education in prison different to other TasTAFE campuses. The emphasis is on engaging a typically disengaged cohort with complex needs, and a trauma-informed approach.
Bio – Sarah Howe
Sarah is a maths and numeracy teacher for TasTAFE at Risdon Prison in Tasmania, Australia. Sarah started working for TAFE (post-secondary Technical and Further Education) in 2003 and began delivering once-weekly classes in Risdon Prison the following year. Since then, the prison classes increased, and she has been based full-time at the prison since 2016. Sarah, and the teaching team at Risdon Prison, are passionate about delivering personalised, relevant, and engaging education with a trauma-informed practice approach.
Abstract – Tatiana Harrison
This topic explores how Funds of Knowledge (González, Moll, & Amanti, 2005) and Funds of Identity (Esteban-Guitart & Moll, 2014) theory could be authentically applied in carceral settings through crosslinguistic pedagogies that develop content area, specifically mathematical, literacy. Specifically, our nascent research suggests that crosslinguistic innovations, like translanguaging (Cenoz & Gorter, 2020), can not only scaffold content area language, but also can act as bulwarks against the production of classroom affective filters that not only lower motivation and engagement, but also adversely affect wellbeing.
Bio – Tatiana Harrison
Tatiana Harrison received her doctorate in Educational Leadership at San Francisco State University in California, USA. Her dissertation was about teaching math in carceral settings using the Funds of Knowledge approach. She is a credentialed teacher at the local youth detention facility and community school (expelled/excluded) classrooms, where she has been working for 15 years.
Introduction to the Virtual Seminar Series
ALM/ANN Virtual Seminar: Exploring Challenges Using Adult Numeracy Curriculum
ALM Virtual Seminar Organising Committee
- Charlotte Arkenback (Sweden)
- Catherine Byrne (Ireland)
- Kees Hoogland (The Netherlands)
- Linda Jarlskog (Sweden)
- Beth Kelly (UK)
- Judy Larsen (Canada)