Chapter 18: Using Mathematics Autobiography Stories to Support Emerging Elementary Mathematics Teachers’ Sociopolitical Consciousness and Identity

A common activity in an elementary mathematics methods course for prospective teachers (PTs) to confront their beliefs, dispositions, and histories surrounding mathematics is the mathematics story or mathematics autobiography. In this chapter, we analyze the literature on the use of mathematics autobiographies while reflecting on how we have used this activity in our own teaching. Anne Marie currently works at Lehman College in the Bronx, NY, an urban setting where many of her PTs are students of color and first-generation Americans. Theodore currently works at the Ohio State University in Columbus, OH, a Midwestern setting where many of his PTs self-identify as White and grew up in rural or suburban regions of Ohio.