professional learning events
Engaging in professional learning opportunities (PLO) are a great way to not only gain new perspectives and strategies, but also an effective way to network.
Teaching is complex work, but teaching for equity can sometimes also be lonely work. Participating in workshops with other like-minded, equity-focused educators can revitalize and validate all you do.
Check out the recent PLOs below. Let's connect and find ways to bring any of the topics or learning spaces to your teaching community...or we can collaboratively create one especially designed for your needs!
AAPI Studies Across K-12 Math Classrooms
(Sept 2022)
In a cross-country collaboration with education researchers, I co-created and presented this important session at the NCTM National Conference. We shared the impact of using mathematics and an AAPI Framework to developing a critical lens towards what we are teaching and what our children are learning. How can this interdisciplinary approach create meaningful learning experiences for our students to deeply explore themes of identity, power, oppression, etc?
Read more about the AAPI Framework we centered here.
AAPI Studies and STEM in Children's Literature
(Oct 2022)
In a collaboration between UCI CalTeach and UCI Science Project, I co-create PK-5 activity packet for Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao. Students discover a unique part of Asian culture, particularly around food. To bridge this story to their own lives, students utilize a central mathematical concept: proportional thinking. Learn more about other titles by visiting UCI Science Project Book Program.
Creating Affinity Spaces for Women of Color in Education (June 2022)
We celebrated the inaugural year of our Woke WOCE group by sharing our experiences with the UTEACH community at large. Program directors, alumni, and teacher candidates came together to listen and share their own experiences, the need of this supportive structure, and started brainstorming how they could create a similar space in their prospective programs.
Using Math to Learn AAPI History (April 2022)
Asian American History is often just a blurb or a paragraph in American history textbooks. During this conference, I created an experience for k-12 teachers and administrators where Math can be used to not only learn about AAPI history, but to think critically about the history of the land we reside on. How can math be used to examine and fight against the erasure of important history?
AAPI Studies and STEM in Children's Literature
(Feb 2022)
In a collaboration between UCI CalTeach and UCI Science Project, I co-create PK-5 activity packet for The Ocean Calls, about S.Korean generational tradition of women sea-diving for treasures. Students discover a unique part of Korean culture, learn about ocean stewardship, and connect to how the young main character overcomes her fear. To bridge this story to their own lives, students utilize math concepts such as Counting Collections, grouping, data collection, and even the Fibonacci sequence! Learn more about other titles by visiting UCI Science Project Book Program.
Returning to Hidden Statistics (2021-22)
In collaboration with UCLA Math Project, I designed and delivered this 2-part series where educators engage in the hidden statistics of everyday situations. Part 1 explored minimum wage vs liveable wage. Part 2 explored the effects of speeding tickets on different groups of people. This series aims to create a paradigm shift of what is relevant engagement and to foster a mathematical lens with which to read the world.
NCTM - New Orleans (Feb 2022)
CMC-South in Palm Springs, CA (Nov 2021)
CMC-North in Asilomar Grounds, CA (Dec 2021)
Among our participants were the NCTM President, college professors, local high school teachers, and fellow teacher leaders. Together, we explored the importance of building classroom community to foster honest conversations about antiracism in the high school math classroom.
Notice and Nurture Mathematical Sense-Making for Neurodiverse Learners (2020-22)
As a facilitator for UCLA Math Project's partnership with Los Angeles Unified School District, I provided PD for LAUSD teachers who support neurodiverse learners. We worked together to recognize students' intuitive abilities and foster the continued development of their problem solving. We shared strategies to support the students' modes of communication and the brilliant ways they make sense of mathematics.
Mapping for Fairness (July 2021)
Is it greener on the other side of the fence?
Mathematics is embedded in every part of our lives. In this continued partnership with UCLA Math Project, I designed this 3-part workshop to engage participants in conversations about equity and social justice. We investigated where "lines" are drawn on local maps, how this affects us in our everyday life, and whether or not it's fair.
Wealth Distribution (June 2021)
How big is your slice of the American pie?
In partnership with UCLA Math Project, I designed this learning opportunity that applies proportional reasoning, data analysis and distribution, and statistical measures of center and spread. Through this mathematical thinking, we investigated wealth distribution in the US and reflected on how we can support or disrupt that distribution.
Community of Equitable Practice (Summer 2021)
How has classroom practice responded to summer of 2020?
In my position at CalTeach, I coordinated this conference in response to the traumas caused by racial tensions across the country and the year of pandemic (distance) learning. It was designed to highlight equitable practices that can be implemented in the STEM classroom, consisting of workshop options that supported participants to reflect upon their current practices and leave each workshop with a paradigm shift on how to start the next school year. Stay tuned for Extravapalooza 2022.
Celebrating Resilience and Innovation (Nov 2020)
How have I responded to the traumas of spring 2020?
As a classroom teacher, I was invited to participate on the Live Teacher Panel of the California STEAM Symposium Pre-Conference. As many social injustices were blatantly unveiled, I chose to position my students to be socially and mathematically competent by creating space for my students to talk about these injustices head on and empower them to amplify their voices using mathematics.
Bias in Statistical Representations (June 2020)
How are statistics being used to persuade public opinion?
In partnership with UCLA Math Project, I co-designed this learning opportunity that asks college students to investigate data on social issues of their choice. How is that data being presented to the public? What underlying biases exist in the data and how is it portrayed? At the end of the summer workshop, students recorded a video of the issue they researched and presented it at a symposium. Students left empowered to use their voice and mathematics to fight for inequities.
older PLOs will be added soon