When Math and Identity Work Side By Side--Necessary Conditions

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 This is a heartwarming story. We don't get to tell them often enough. 

I used Geoff Krall's (Author of Necessary Conditions) Where Does a Letter Occur in a Word matching activity as a soft open to our after mid-winter break first day back in my small 9th grade Math class. 

From Geoff: Think about the letter y:




I followed up this with his next question: Think about Q. List all the words you can think of that have the letter q: (perfect for a country where there is a mandatory 15 day quarantine for anyone arriving on island). 

Here is the student lists and distribution graphs:


During their thinking time, some whispering happened, Jose says "I don't think I can use that word." After some back and forth between the students, it is revealed that the q word is part of LGBTQ. I say sure it is legit! "Queer!"comes blurting out. Greta is right on it. "That is me Mon, " (yes, spelling is correct). "I am the B."
Greta gets a big hug from Elizabeth. We are all smiling and feeling good about our intersection of "mathing"and being safe.

Mind you this is a Caribbean Island that is very Christian. I am positively beaming from the courage, the opportunity, and the acceptance. This student feels safe in her little math community. 

Necessary Conditions: Heart open, math happening. 







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