2025 MidSchoolMath National Conference

When Rochelle Gutiérrez spoke of the need to center Indigenous, Black, and Latinx students in efforts to rehumanize mathematics, this meant not merely supporting those students to do well through dominant mainstream standards, but through practices, measures, and approaches that empower and build upon the strengths of students for whom the systems of mathematics education has most failed (2018).

In this session, I specifically explore what rehumanizing mathematics means for Indigenous learners and communities. We will explore ways in which mathematics has been and may continue to be dehumanizing and discuss opportunities for educators to engage in rehumanizing practices for Native learners. Drawing upon my experiences as a Diné and Filipinx learner, scholar, educator, researcher, and parent currently residing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I also aim to demonstrate ways we can center place values in discussions such as those held at national conferences.

Join us for an engaging workshop using the World Café method! In this collaborative learning experience, you will rotate through different “math café” stations, each focused on a topic generated by you and your colleagues. This may range from using AI, engagement, and many more topics.

At each station, small groups will share strategies, solve any problems together, and foster a deep understanding. By the end of the session, you will have gained new perspectives while enjoying meaningful peer conversations.
This workshop encourages curiosity, critical thinking, and teamwork. Come ready to talk, think, and explore in a whole new way!

Join Kevin Simpson on this gallery walk session, drawing on MidSchoolMath's Big Picture International Film Series. You'll be inspired to think about how you can use big-picture, real-world problems to support your students math comprehension while fostering positive mathematical identities.  

Stories activate multiple areas of the brain, including the visual processing centers, emotion, and motor cortexes. This makes the experience more immersive and memorable. However, what if our students struggle to access the story? In this session, we'll share and explore strategies for sheltering stories to allow this powerful experience for all of our students. You'll learn how to enhance your teaching with specific language structures and routines to unlock the power of a sheltered story, so that not only will students engage in Math in a deep way, but they will be able to connect their own stories to the context of the classroom!

During this session, you'll engage in a story as a student, engaging in sheltered instruction strategies that will not only model the effectiveness of this important practice, but to create a lasting experience you can draw upon when planning Math lessons. The story excerpt “Salvador Late or Early” by Sandra Cisneros will prompt educators to examine themes, such as equity, trauma and the student perspective. Teachers will examine bias as we change aspects of the story to reflect new meaning. We will discuss word choice and word meaning as we connect the story to teaching. The team will identify barriers to student’s accessing the story and the power of a classroom discussion to foster understanding.