Candidate Statement for the office of Director 

from Jennifer Bay-Williams:

Title: Associate Professor

Position: College of Education and Human Development, Mathematics Methods Courses for Pre-Service Teachers and Graduate Studies, University of Louisville

 

Jennifer's Response: Among the many things I learned while teaching in Peru in the 1990’s, was the importance of language and culture as it relates to learning mathematics. Years later, I began to work with teachers in rural and urban settings in Kansas who had a quickly increasing population of recent immigrants. We lacked strategies for supporting their learning and began a three year journey studying and learning how to better support ELLs in mathematics classrooms. This work and passion has continued in both rural and urban settings in Kentucky. I hope to bring to TODOS this middle-U.S. perspective. I also hope to bring to TODOS insights from my leadership work in other related organizations. Specifically, I have served as president and secretary of Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE), as well as Monograph Editorial Panel and numerous committees. In NCTM I am editor for the 2012 Yearbook, I chaired the Emerging Issues Committee, and edited three departments in Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School (MTMS). I am not Hispanic nor bilingual. My son is. I wish for him, and all students, to be in classrooms where the teacher and students embrace his cultural heritage and uniqueness as an individual. I am committed to this vision and feel that serving on the TODOS Board will enable me to make a contribution to this end.