Candidate Statement for the office of Director 

from Anita Bright:

Title: Adjunct Professor

Position:  Teacher educator in Fairfax County Public Schools and George Mason University

 

Questions: What experiences with students and colleagues have influenced your commitment to equity and access for the mathematics education of all learners, in particular Hispanic/Latino students? How will this impact your leadership of TODOS if elected?

 

Anita's Response: I work as a teacher educator in Fairfax County Public Schools, where my full-time role is supporting teachers in meeting the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs) in secondary mathematics. I'm also an adjunct professor of Multicultural Education and ESOL Methods at George Mason University.

These roles allow me to work closely with a range of mathematics educators and the students in their care. Some of these teachers are incredible, carefully constructing meaningful mathematics lessons tailored to the students’ individual funds of knowledge, strengths, and opportunities. Students in these classes bask in the thoughtful attention of their teachers, and come to love mathematics, school, and education.

In contrast, I also work with teachers whose beliefs and actions marginalize and dis-empower their students. These educators, who consider humiliation to be an instructional strategy, range from apathetic to hostile towards their students, particularly their Latino students. I find this not only abhorrent, but intolerable, and herein lies the real work of TODOS.

To ensure all students may participate in meaningful education, I believe that as members of TODOS, our role is to educate and support our less-invested peers in not only learning instructional strategies that benefit all students, but also to help these educators explore how the ways we “see” students (either positively or negatively) can influence student achievement. Together, I believe we can do this!