ABSTRACT
Emily. My journey to becoming a teacher educator began as a high-school mathematics teacher in a school that served low-income students of color. I taught because I loved learning and mathematics and wanted to share that love with students. Throughout my time as a classroom teacher, I continued my formal learning—first a master’s degree, then a doctorate. Many courses advocated teaching mathematics in a student-centered way, as guided by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ (NCTM) standards (NCTM, 2000), and there was one required diversity course in my masters’ program that helped me to begin to think about the intersection of student identities and education. However, at the time, I remained focused on learning how to teach in a standards-based way. I believed that teaching in this way was yielding more success with my students. Looking back on this belief, I find the success was limited to some students. I focused on those students who were being helped—I avoided critique of my teaching based on those who were not.
