Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Math for a Cause: Preparation for the Journey

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Queering Critical Literacy and Numeracy for Social Justice

Part of the book series: Queer Studies and Education ((QSTED))

  • 370 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter outlines the theoretical framework and research methods used, beginning with an overview of how the course was designed. Queer pedagogy was the overall theoretical lens, through which social justice pedagogy was used as the content focus with teaching strategies based on critical literacy and critical mathematics. These theories are considered together to create an interdisciplinary literature review. Next, the methodology of post-critical ethnography and queer methods is explored. Data collection included interviews with focal students, audio recordings of student group work and whole-class discussions, field notes, analytical memos, an interview with the cooperating teacher, student pre-and-post-course surveys, and written student work in response to literacy and mathematics prompts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bakhtin, M. (1981). The dialogic imagination: Four essays. Austin: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Behar, R. (1996). The vulnerable observer: Anthropology that breaks your heart. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boellstorff, T. (2007). Queer studies in the house of anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology, 36, 17–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Britzman, D. (1995a). Is there a queer pedagogy? Or stop reading straight. Educational Theory, 45(2), 151–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Britzman, D. (1995b). “The question of belief”: Writing poststructural ethnography. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(3), 229–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Britzman, D. (2012). Queer pedagogy and its strange techniques. In E. Meiners & T. Quinn (Eds.), Sexualities in education: A reader (pp. 292–308). New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Britzman, D. P., & Gilbert, J. (2004). What will have been said about gayness in teacher education. Teaching Education, 15(1), 81–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Browne, K., & Nash, C. J. (2010). Queer methods and methodologies. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chappell, B. (2015, June 26). Supreme Court declares same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. National Public Radio. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/26/417717613/supreme-court-rules-all-states-must-allow-same-sex-marriages.

  • Coffey, A., & Atkinson, P. (1996). Making sense of qualitative data: Complementary research strategies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies, J. (2009). A space for play: Crossing boundaries and learning online. In V. Carrington & M. Robinson (Eds.), Digital literacies: Social learning and classroom practices (pp. 27–42). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • DePalma, R. (2010). The no outsiders project: In search of queer primary pedagogies. Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship & Pedagogy, 21(2), 47–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Depasquale, J. (2009). Working within and against heterosexist and homophobic schools: Social justice and high school journalism. In R. Rogers, M. A. Kramer, M. Mosley & Literacy for Social Justice Teacher Research Group (Eds.), Designing socially just learning communities: Critical literacy education across the lifespan (pp. 159–170). New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowdall, C. (2009). Masters and critics: Children as producers of online digital texts. In V. Carrington & M. Robinson (Eds.), Digital literacies: Social learning and classroom practices (pp. 43–64). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Frankenstein, M. (2005). Reading the world with math. In E. Gutstein & B. Peterson (Eds.), Rethinking mathematics: Teaching social justice by the numbers (pp. 19–28). Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freebody, P., & Luke, A. (1990). Literacies programs: Debates and demands in cultural context. Prospect: An Australian Journal of TESOL, 5(3), 7–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th anniversary ed.). New York: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geertz, C. (1973). Thick description. In The interpretation of cultures (pp. 3–30). New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glazer, E. (2001). Using internet primary sources to teach critical thinking skills in mathematics. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein, T., Russell, V., & Daley, A. (2007). Safe, positive and queering moments in teaching education and schooling: A conceptual framework. Teaching Education, 18(3), 183–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodall Jr., H. L. (2000). Writing the new ethnography (Vol. 7). Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Groenke, S. L. (2008). Missed opportunities in cyberspace: Preparing preservice teachers to facilitate critical talk about literature through computer-mediated communication. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(3), 224–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutiérrez, L. A. (2014). Youth social justice engagement in the face of Anti-Latina/o immigrant illegitimacy. The Urban Review, 46(2), 307–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutstein, E. (2003). Teaching and learning mathematics for social justice in an urban, Latino school. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 34(1), 37–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heffernan, L. (2004). Critical literacy and writer’s workshop: Bringing purpose and passion to student writing. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hytten, K. (2004). Postcritical ethnography: Research as a pedagogical encounter. In G. W. Noblit, S. Y. Flores, & E. G. Murillo (Eds.), Postcritical ethnography: Reinscribing critique (pp. 95–105). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hytten, K. (2008). Critical thinking, social justice and the role of philosophy. In J. Diem & R. Helfenbein (Eds.), Unsettling beliefs: Teaching social theory to teachers (pp. 185–200). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Janks, H. (2000). Domination, access, diversity and design: A synthesis for critical literacy education. Educational Review, 52(2), 175–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krywanczyk, L. (2007). Queering public school pedagogy as a first-year teacher. Radical Teacher, 79, 27–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumashiro, K. (2001). Queer students of color and antiracist, antiheterosexist education: Paradoxes of identity and activism. In K. Kumashiro (Ed.), Troubling intersections of race and sexuality: Queer students of color and anti-oppressive education (pp. 1–25). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ladson-Billings, G., & Tate, W. F. (1995). Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers College Record, 97(1), 47–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawless, E. J. (1992). “I was afraid someone like you…an outsider…would misunderstand”: Negotiating interpretive differences between ethnographers and subjects. Journal of American Folklore, 105(417), 302–314.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, M. M. (2012). Pedagogy and the sista’ professor: Teaching black queer feminist studies through the self. In E. Meiners & T. Quinn (Eds.), Sexualities in education: A reader (pp. 33–40). New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, S. (1998). Queering/querying pedagogy? Or, pedagogy is a pretty queer thing. In W. F. Pinar (Ed.), Queer theory in education (pp. 141–156). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luke, A. (2012). Critical literacy: Foundational notes. Theory into Practice, 51(1), 4–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macintosh, L. (2007). Does anyone have a band-aid? Anti-homophobia discourses and pedagogical impossibilities. Educational Studies, 41(1), 33–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malinowski, B. (1950). Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An account of native enterprise and adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea, by Bronislaw Malinowski… with a Preface by Sir James George Frazer… With 5 Maps, 65 Illustrations, and 2 Figures. London: Routledge & K. Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayo, C. (2007). Intermittently queer. In N. Rodriquez & W. Pinar (Eds.), Queering straight teachers: Discourse and identity in education (pp. 183–200). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGee Banks, C. A., & Banks, J. A. (1995). Equity pedagogy: An essential component of multicultural education. Theory into Practice, 34(3), 152–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin, M., & DeVoogd, G. (2011). Critical literacy as comprehension: Understanding at deeper levels. In D. Lapp & D. Fisher (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the English language arts (3rd ed., pp. 278–282). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, E. J. (2007). “But I’m not gay”: What straight teachers need to know about queer theory. In N. M. Rodriguez & W. F. Pinar (Eds.), Queering straight teachers: Discourse and identity in education (pp. 15–32). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moje, E. B. (2007). Developing socially just subject-matter instruction: A review of the literature on disciplinary literacy teaching. Review of Research in Education, 31(1), 1–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers, J., & Eberfors, F. (2010). Globalizing English through intercultural critical literacy. English Education, 42(2), 148–170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noblit, G. W., Flores, S. Y., & Murillo, E. G. (2004). Postcritical ethnography: Reinscribing critique. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • North, C. E. (2009). Teaching for social justice?: Voices from the front lines. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennell, S. M. (2016). Queering the curriculum: Critical literacy and numeracy for social justice (Doctoral dissertation), The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennell, S., & Cain, J. M. (2016). Adorned: Moving from decoration to disposition in social justice. In J. Diem (Ed.) The social and cultural foundations of education: A reader (pp. 148–165). San Diego, CA: Cognella Academic Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plummer, K. (2005). Critical humanism and queer theory. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (pp. 357–373). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rendón, L. I. (2009). Sentipensante (sensing/thinking) pedagogy: Educating for wholeness, social justice and liberation (1st ed.). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Talburt, S. (1999). Open secrets and problems of queer ethnography: Readings from a religious studies classroom. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 12(5), 525–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Terry, C. (2010). Prisons, pipelines, and the president: Developing critical math literacy through participatory action research. Journal of African American Males in Education, 1(2), 73–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, A. (2008). Community, culture, and citizenship in cyberspace. In J. Coiro, M. Knobel, C. Lankshear, & D. Leu (Eds.), Handbook of research on new literacies (pp. 671–698). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum and Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, W. B. (2000). A genealogy of queer theory. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ukpokodu, O. N. (2011). How do I teach mathematics in a culturally responsive way? Identifying empowering teaching practices. Multicultural Education, 18(3), 47–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warnick, B. R., & Stemhagen, K. (2007). Mathematics teachers as moral educators: The implications of conceiving of mathematics as a technology. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 39(3), 303–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weems, L. (2007). Un/fixing the fiend: Queering pedagogy and dangerous desires. Educational Studies, 41(3), 194–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, M. (2011). The epistemology of ethnography: Method in queer anthropology. GLQ, 17(4), 649–664.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westheimer, J., & Kahne, J. (1998). Education for action: Preparing youth for participatory democracy. In W. Ayers, J. A. Hunt, & T. Quinn (Eds.), Teaching for social justice: A democracy and education reader (pp. 1–20). New York: Teachers College Press and The New Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Truman State University, Kirksville, MO, USA

    Summer Melody Pennell

Authors
  1. Summer Melody Pennell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Summer Melody Pennell .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Pennell, S.M. (2019). Math for a Cause: Preparation for the Journey. In: Queering Critical Literacy and Numeracy for Social Justice. Queer Studies and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11584-5_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11584-5_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-11583-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-11584-5

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation