Zavala and Aguirre should be commended for their take on what it means to be a culturally responsive mathematics teacher. This book positions mathematics teachers as identity workers. The vignettes and teaching stories bring the Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching Tool to life. Zavala and Aguirre graciously share their thoughts about how to implement this framework in a variety of settings, including elementary, special education, and multilingual contexts.

Pam Seda and Kyndall Brown

Joyful, humanizing, rich mathematics teaching and learning come alive in this book. Zavala and Aguirre share a compelling framework for culturally responsive mathematics teaching that will fuel your imagination and motivate you to grow your teaching in new ways. With this book, you and your colleagues will have the power to transform your students’ mathematics experiences.

Elham Kazemi, University of Washington

Written in flowing narrative and interspersed with the voices of students and teachers, this book is a must-read for math educators committed to equity using culturally responsive mathematics instruction. The planning tool for Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching supports every step of instructional design of math to reach and teach each and every child in our mathematics classrooms.

Tonya Bartell, Michigan State University

Cultivating Mathematical Hearts is a love letter to children, families, communities, and teachers. Both practical and inspirational, this book offers the perfect blueprint with the rationale, practices, lesson design tools, and classroom examples to ensure culturally responsive mathematics teaching is available for all. Thank you to the authors for sharing your heart work— your vision, expertise, and radical hope!

Cathery Yeh, The University of Texas at Austin

The authors of Cultivating Mathematical Hearts skillfully escort us on a journey in which they define, unpack, and offer profound examples of Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching. This book is complex, practical, and personal. New and experienced educators are guaranteed to recommit to centering love, joy, curiosity, humanity, and community in mathematics teaching. The authors end with a powerful yet empathetic call to action. This book is essential on our collective journeys to liberation.

Marrielle Myers, Kennesaw State University

This book is inspiring and essential reading for everyone who advocates for children and wants them to thrive! The Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching Tool will guide teachers, teacher educators, and administrators who want to pursue meaningful and humane mathematics teaching. The stories, instructional examples, and activities will promote thoughtful reflections and discussions as well as unify efforts in schools, districts, and communities to facilitate engagement, joy, hope, and justice.

Kathryn Chval, University of Illinois Chicago

No matter what stage we are in in our understanding of Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching, the authors brilliantly guide us on how to transform our classrooms by acknowledging, taking action, and holding ourselves accountable. We have the power to retool pedagogy that centers the students’, families’, and communities’ conocimientos (knowledge) and ways of doing mathematics. Exemplary cases from the field are included to illustrate how this work is done del corazón (from the heart).

Sylvia Celedón-Pattichis, University of Texas at Austin