The Power of a Black Teacher! Featuring Ryan Colón
Written by Tamala Wiley
As a 20-year educator and former math teacher, I encountered many students who entered my middle school classroom apprehensive about learing math and preemptively assuming failure. Building math confidence was important, but equally critical (if not more so) was for the black children I served to see themselves as smart and capable mathematicians in the making. In reality, however, math continues to be the subject that makes most kids feel easily defeated.
What it means to be “smart in math”
Last year, my 6th grader came home excited to share that the teacher selected her to help someone else with their classwork. I couldn’t understand why helping someone with a division problem was so exciting, so I probed a little. She eventually said, “It felt good to be the person called on to help someone else instead of the one needing help this time.”
That statement really struck me because it made me again wonder how we define “smartness” in math. Do we present math to students in ways that affirm the ways of knowledge they already possess? How do we communicate and define what successful mathematicians look like and sound like? If we don't communicate or define it correctly, what does this mean for students and their future? The dual role I play as mother and teacher heightens my awareness of how important it is to uplift and recognize her way of being as brilliant. It is extremely difficult to elevate that brilliance when math school culture does the exact opposite.
Math as means of representation
In this episode of The Power of a Black Teacher!, I sit down with Ryan Colón, Director of Programs at Teaching Lab, as she reflects on how the lack of representation of black educators at the university level contributed to her feelings of isolation and insecurity in her own math competence and ultimately altered the career trajectory she initially sought for herself. This experience fueled her passion to become a high school geometry teacher and serves as the catalyst for writing her own math curriculum that allows students of color to see mathematics as representative of themselves and the community around them.
Listening to her describe this experience and make connections to the equitable teaching practices that affirm students and their identity confirms the significance black educators hold. Her lived experience champions the importance of creating learning spaces that redistribute power and honor students' cultural ways of being as excellent. Ceding power to black educators, leaders, and researchers in the field is the element of disruption needed to redefine the educational experiences of black children in ways that truly have impact.
Tamala Wiley drives Teaching Lab’s continued growth and impact by identifying and developing new clients and business opportunities for Teaching Lab to expand its professional learning services across the country. Tamala has 20 years of experience teaching, coaching, and leading. She is also the host of the “The Power of a Black Teacher!”
