Justice and Community

This chapter introduces the virtuous pursuits of justice and community and how they may connect to mathematics teaching in the elementary classroom. The chapter opens with a recounting of community and justice in the author’s homeplaces of Kentucky and explores mathematical ideas connected to community and justice in rural spaces. Then underlying philosophies and research regarding how justice and community have propelled human flourishing are presented. The chapter then describes how teachers may build a classroom culture around these virtues including practical examples focused on lived experiences of students as well as how to develop the core practice of expanding mathematical experiences beyond classrooms and school curricula. The chapter concludes with an examination of responsive teaching practice, referred to as professional noticing, organized around an example task and interactions and reflective questions to guide teachers’ thinking in these areas.