MTC4SJ Summer Stars

In Summer 2021 and 2022, we brought together a diverse group of Connecticut secondary mathematics educators with a wide range of experiences to create social justice math lessons in a collaborative setting and produce a digital book as a resource guide geared for secondary mathematics educators in Connecticut. This program is a core component of our mission to develop capacity for educators to do this work in classrooms and to build a community of professionals supporting and inspiring each other.

Summer Stars 2022 Cohort

Martine Coscia, New London Public Schools
Taryn DiSorbo, Cheshire Public Schools
Becks Olthoff, New Haven Public Schools
Nickie Pendolphi, Groton Public Schools
Karen Wainwright-Staton, Waterbury Public Schools
Angelica Charles, University of Connecticut
Bella Llano, University of Connecticut

Summer Stars 2021 Cohort

Angela Boratko, Hartford Public Schools
Susan Budde, New Haven Public Schools
Taryn DiSorbo, Cheshire Public Schools
Maria Enrique, Ellington Public Schools
Evan Green, Common Ground High School
Joy Griffin, Parish Hill High School
Monica Housen, Ridgefield Public Schools

Summer Stars 2021 Cohort

Sacha Kelly, CREC
Sherryl King, Hartford Public Schools
John Madura, Clinton Public Schools
Christian McCarthy, Hamden Public Schools
Brian McDermott, Glastonbury Public Schools
Sarah Poppel, Hartford Public Schools
Caroline Psutka, Manchester Public Schools

Summer Stars Program Highlights

  • Lessons designed by our cohorts featuring social justice topics and a Connecticut context; featured in our book

  • Supernova Series Talks

    • Dr. Shelly Jones, CCSU. At the Intersection of Culturally Relevant and Social Justice Pedagogies and Student Identity.

    • Angela Boratko, Hartford Public Schools. Learning in a Labyrinth: The Road to Writing Social Justice Math Tasks.

  • Polygons and Prejudice MTC4SJ workshop

  • Critical Conversations

    • What is social justice math and why teach math for social justice?

    • What makes a social justice math lesson?

    • Shifting Mindset: How do we mathematize our world?

    • Shifting Mindset: How can we facilitate difficult conversations?

FAQ

Who? Any Connecticut mathematics educator who works with students (or curriculum) for grades 6-12, either as a classroom teacher or a coach. Your plan is to teach in those same grades this coming year, and ideally you taught those grades this past year as well.

Post-summer: We are asking each group to facilitate one of our MTC4SJ workshops during the '22-'23 academic year. These sessions are generally 90 minutes on a weekday evening and we will work with you to support your session.

We would also like you to implement the lesson you have created in a classroom or run a workshop with your colleagues (depending on your role) and share back your experiences to add to our digital resource guide to best support implementation by others.

Finally, we will ask our Stars to participate in any survey materials and feedback for the Leadership team.

What do you get? Each of our Summer Stars will receive an honorarium (check) of $150 and an MTC4SJ T-shirt. You will also receive authorship on our digital book, gain a network/community of social justice-minded mathematics educators, and have additional leadership opportunities such as running the MTC4SJ workshop and presenting at conferences, if you are interested.