In Fall 2024, the AMTE Equity Committee facilitated a book study of Maria del Rosario Zavala and Julia Maria Aguirre’s Cultivating Mathematical Hearts: Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching in Elementary Classrooms (2023). The book invites mathematics educators to re-center mathematics as a humanizing endeavor and consider how culturally responsive teaching can nurture students’ mathematical identities, curiosity, and joy.
Recently, members of the 2024-25 Equity Committee—Mary Raygoza, Missy Cosby, Sheila Orr, Barbara King, Justin Burris, and Siddhi Soni—published an article emerging from this collective learning experience. Their article, “Cultivating Mathematics Teacher Educators’ Hearts, Critical Consciousness, and Professional Praxis through Book Study,” appears in the most recent issue of the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics. The article reflects on how engaging collectively with Zavala and Aguirre’s work supported mathematics teacher educators in examining their own practice and deepening their commitments to equity.
The Equity Committee extends its sincere gratitude to Dr. Zavala and Dr. Aguirre for their scholarship, AMTE Equity Committee members past and present, and to the AMTE members who participated in the book study and contributed to the rich conversations that followed. This experience exemplifies the power of learning together to cultivate not only our professional knowledge, but also our hearts and commitments as mathematics educators.
This fall, the AMTE Equity Committee will continue this tradition of collective learning with a new book study centered on Rachel Lambert’s Rethinking Disability and Mathematics: A UDL Math Classroom Guide for Grades K–8 (2024). Lambert’s book introduces Universal Design for Learning for Mathematics (UDL Math) as an approach for designing mathematics classrooms in which disabled and neurodiverse students can engage in meaningful and joyful mathematical learning. If you are interested in joining us, please reach out to avpequity@amte.net for more information.
The Equity Committee looks forward to continuing the conversation about how we can rethink mathematics education, challenge deficit perspectives, and create more equitable and humanizing spaces for all learners.
Lambert, R. (2024). Rethinking disability and mathematics: A UDL math classroom guide for grades K–8. Corwin. ISBN 978-1-0719-2603-1.
Raygoza, M., Cosby, M. D., Orr, S., King, B., Burris, J. T., & Soni, S. (2026). Cultivating mathematics teacher educators’ hearts, critical consciousness, and professional praxis through book study. Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, 16(2), 120–137. https://doi.org/10.5642/jhummath.VXOO5450
Zavala, M. del R., & Aguirre, J. M. (2023). Cultivating mathematical hearts: Culturally responsive mathematics teaching in elementary classrooms. Corwin. ISBN 978-1-0718-5010-7.