A High School Mathematics Teacher Tacking Through The Middle Way: Toward A Critical Postmodern Autoethnography In Mathematics Education

The “urban” mathematics classroom has become an increasingly polarized site, one where many middle-class White teachers attempt to bridge the divide between themselves and their relatively economically disadvantaged, non-White students. With its mania for high-stakes testing, current education policy has intensified the importance of mathematics in the school curriculum—both drawing attention to and reifying an “achievement gap” between White (and Asian) and non-White students (Martin, 2009c, 2010). Keeping in mind the Mathematics for all rhetoric as it affects the academic and life success of students (Martin, 2003), this cultural polarization in the mathematics classroom provides a rich site for exploring pedagogical practices that might improve mathematics achievement and persistence for all students. As a middle-class White man, I am a teacher in such a divided situation; I have spent the past 7 years working with almost entirely Black 9th graders as a mathematics classroom teacher in an urban high school. In this study, I employ a critical postmodern theoretical perspective (Stinson, 2009; Stinson & Bullock, 2012) toward an autoethnography (e.g., Ellis & Bochner, 2000) of my experiences as a teacher in this particular educational environment. Using writing as a “method of inquiry” (Richardson, 2000), with an emphasis on two particular intersections of critical race theory (e.g., Tate, 1997) and poststructural theory (e.g., St. Pierre, 2011)—the role of storytelling and the concept of “race” as metanarrative—I examine, theorize, and (re)tell of my life and teaching experiences. My aim is to provide assistance of sorts for a new teacher in a similar situation; the kind of educator—middle class and White—who, according to projections, will more times than not be filling the role of teacher in the urban mathematics classroom. The goal of this study is twofold: (a) to gain and share theoretical and practical insight into my teacher identity and pedagogical practices, and (b) to provide potential insight for and assistance to other mathematics teachers who may see themselves in the (re)telling of my stories

Borges & Bikes Riders: Toward an Understanding of Autoethnography

In this article the author�a full-time high school mathematics teacher and concurrent doctoral candidate in Department of Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology at Georgia State University�will make a case for the use of an autoethnographic methodological tool he is calling narrative mining. He will begin by briefly summarizing his experiences attempting to write and publish autoethnography; a short story by Argentine mystery writer Jorge Luis Borges will serve as a frame to provide three examples of barriers the author believes lie between a writer and any attempt at self-knowledge. A partial solution to these barriers is proposed in the form of an examination of the personal stories a writer has told over time. An example is then shown, and a call made for a deeper look into the possible spaces opened up in a continued examination of the personal story.En este artículo el autor, profesor de matemáticas de Educación Secundaria a tiempo completo y candidato doctoral concurrente en el Departamento de Educación Secundaria y de Tecnología Educativa de la Universidad pública de Georgia, presentará un ejemplo para el uso de una herramienta metodológica autoetnográfica que él denomina minería narrativa. Comenzará con un breve resumen de sus experiencias al intentar escribir y publicar sobre autoetnografía; un breve cuento del autor argentino de obras de misterio, Jorge Luis Borges, servirá de marco para proporcionar tres muestras de las barreras que el autor cree que se encuentran entre el escritor y cualquier pretensión de autoconocimiento. Se propone una solución parcial a estos obstáculos que consiste en el análisis de las historias personales que el escritor haya plasmado a lo largo de su carrera. A continuación, se muestra un ejemplo y se hace un llamamiento hacia una mirada más profunda de los posibles espacios generados por el examen continuo de la experiencia vital

Borges & Bike Rides: Toward an Understanding of Autoethnography

In this article the author—a full-time high school mathematics teacher and concurrent doctoral candidate in Department of Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology at Georgia State University—will make a case for the use of an autoethnographic methodological tool he is calling narrative mining. He will begin by briefly summarizing his experiences attempting to write and publish autoethnography; a short story by Argentine mystery writer Jorge Luis Borges will serve as a frame to provide three examples of barriers the author believes lie between a writer and any attempt at self-knowledge. A partial solution to these barriers is proposed in the form of an examination of the personal stories a writer has told over time. An example is then shown, and a call made for a deeper look into the possible spaces opened up in a continued examination of the personal story