As math educators it our job to promote equity in mathematics. Students deserve to feel safe, valued, and represented. Teaching math requires more than just learning what is curriculum based, but its also standing up for what is right. By incorporating social justice literature that promotes equality and math engagement, students are then empowered and inspired to confront inequities out in the world around them. They become someone who has a voice and become someone who can change the world.
In the book Round is a Tortilla, the central protagonist is a little girl learning about the shapes that are all around her, while the pictures represent Spanish culture. This book focuses on many objects that are Latino in origin. The book also contains a lot of Spanish vocabulary, as well as a glossary so children can read or teachers can teach and learn the words. Incorporating literature into mathematics content can help students see math in other ways and learn it in new ways. My assignment blows explores this book further, while creating non-routine math problems that incorporate the Spanish culture. My focus was creating math problems focusing on second grade standards.