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Message from the President Lynn Foshee Reed

The word “ unprecedented ” certainly describes the state of mathematics education (and, of course, ed ucation in general) across our schools, our state, our nation, and our world. Like you, I had to fig ure out how to deliver virtual instruction to my stu dents in March. Was it perfect? Of course not, but it wasn ’ t bad, either, thanks to many suggestions and nuggets of wisdom from colleagues at my school, from within VCTM, and from larger com munities of AP and NBCT teachers. In turn, I hope I was also able to support colleagues by shar ing what was working for me, as well as what I quickly abandoned. This sense of “ we are in it to gether ” is so important, especially as we maintain social distancing (and mask - wearing, hand washing, etc.) to combat the spread of Covid - 19. The new school year will continue to challenge us all. New teachers, seasoned veterans, teachers with school - aged children of their own, teachers with spouses or parents in high - risk categories— the list goes on and on—face the coming year with excitement and trepidation. Some of you will con tinue to teach online while others journey back into the classroom, and some are doing a hybrid of both. To help our members meet these challenges, VCTM will develop virtual professional learning and support groups as well as create a virtual con ference for Spring 2021. We hope that such VCTM - sponsored opportunities to learn best prac tices for virtual instruction, to share methods of safe and secure assessment, to take the data from the pandemic to craft important math modeling and data analysis lessons, or to simply provide a sounding - board—just to name a few ideas—will be helpful to each of you as you navigate the 2020 21 school year! In addition to the pandemic ’ s upheaval of our lives, this summer has brought into focus the con tinuing struggle for racial and social justice. I am

proud that NCTM ’ s President Trena Wilkerson and Past President Robert Berry quickly and clear ly reminded us, “ As a mathematics education com munity, we must not tolerate acts of racism, hate, bias, or violence ” (statement on George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery). Further more, they reiterated the 2017 call by Robert Berry and Matt Larson that:

We support the use of mathematics as an analytic tool to challenge power, privilege, and oppression.

We encourage all educators to challenge systems of oppression that privilege some while disad vantaging others. We encourage all educators to create socially and emotionally safe spaces for themselves, their stu dents, and colleagues. At the VCTM Board ’ s summer planning virtual re treat, Darryl Corey, Timothy Barnes, and Tracy Proffitt began crafting not only a statement of VCTM beliefs, but, more importantly, commit ments to this call. If you would like to be part of this work as a member of the new “ Justice and Eq uity ” committee, please send me an email at the following address (lynn.foshee.reed@gmail.com). Furthermore, if you are interested in working with the March 2021 virtual conference committee, reach out to Theresa Wills (twills@gmu.edu). If you have ideas for ongoing professional learning, then contact Shelly Pine, shelly.pine1@gmail.com. Finally, I was recently reminded of the Serenity Prayer by the American theologian, Reinhold Nie bur: Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

Wishing you all the best! Stay safe!

Virginia Mathematics Teacher vol. 46, no. 2

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