Entrance Slip (Oct 30) - Maththatmatters

I think mathematics can be connected with social and environmental justice. Numbers are part of every day life and no matter what context we consider, math always finds a way of becoming present. However, I feel this can easily become a game designed to find as many different things to calculate as possible. Essentially any problem can be made into a math problem if you try hard enough. This somewhat reminded me of a picture book I read as a child, Math Curse. The book follows a student who is cursed by having everything in their life turn into a math problem, whether its counting slices of bread for breakfast or catching the school bus on time. I think math exists in politics, environmental justice and social justice because of this fact, numbers are everywhere. However, just because we can calculate our way through social justice, doesn't mean we will fight injustices using math. I think it is definitely a good way of building awareness and connecting mathematics to something students can relate to in the real world and I feel the content introduced by the author expressed good ways to start thinking about social and environmental issues using math, but I also feel like some of these problems can make mathematics more difficult to comprehend or even deter students from social justice issues if they struggle to understand the mathematics. Generally, I felt distracted by the social concepts and slew of jargon when I was trying to understand the math behind the problems and ultimately solve the question. However, I think the author had good intentions when writing the textbook. The key to getting students to enjoy any subject is relating it to their own lives and so I understand the author's attempt to do this with mathematics. Despite the interesting connections the author made to the carbon footprint and capitalism, I don't think I would enjoy using these methods in my own math class because I lack the enthusiasm for social justice that some other teachers may have. Hence, I feel like if my lessons lacked my own interest it might be more harmful than beneficial to my students. However, I can definitely see this done in secondary math classes with teachers that can guide the material more passionately. Mathematics can be used to discuss sweatshops, slavery and the economy or even celebrity endorsements and consumerism. As I said, I think anything can be made into a math problem, but I do feel mathematics relates more to topics of economics and business, since money is involved. Many money problems can be developed from the world of economics. The possibilities are endless for social justice in this context.