Leaders in Education
Leaders in Education
Kay Toliver
"I’m a teacher. What else would I do?" Kay Toliver asks.
Kay Toliver retired after 34 years of instilling a love of knowledge in middle school students at P.S. 72 in Spanish Harlem. Toliver’s teaching was on the cutting edge of mathematics, stressing thinking and application over computation, and weaving history and art through class discussions into the study of mathematics. Because many of her students came from poor, unstable backgrounds and have poor language skills, she emphasized writing, reading, and research. She required her students to always be prepared to explain their solutions orally, in complete and clear sentences. They were required to keep daily journals, in which they wrote about what they had learned in class, ideas about how to apply the concepts they study, or simply observations about the class or the teacher. Toliver believes that the students’ ability to express themselves in well-written English must be acquired hand-in-hand with mathematical discovery. In addition to enhancing writing skills, such journals allow the teacher to gain a glimpse of her students’ confusions in mathematics. "A teacher can stand in front of the class and think she’s giving a great lesson. But, that’s not always the truth," she explains.
Kay Toliver’s influence spread beyond her own classroom through videos. In 1995, she was featured in a Peabody award–winning public television special, "Good Morning Miss Toliver." Also, with Jaime Escalante, Toliver contributed to "Interactions: Real Math—Real Careers," a multimedia tool that connects prealgebra math principles to real life in scenarios featuring career professionals. Along with Escalante, Toliver sees the way to future jobs through mathematics, especially for students from the inner city.
In addition to the mathematical tools, P.S. 72 children were some of the first to use computers in school, due to Toliver’s strong belief that her students must be technologically competitive. With money she received from one of her many awards, the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching, she purchased software and computers for her school’s computer lab.
Toliver has seen many students who have been exposed to drugs or crime, or both. Frequently, one parent is gone, or a child may be in foster care. Too often a sibling is in jail, and the students’ peers are dealing with everyday street life in East Harlem. But having grown up in the South Bronx and East Harlem, she is well acquainted with the world of her students. As a result, discipline was not a problem in Toliver’s class. Students understood that she was serious and worked hard to make math interesting. "We don’t need different methods to teach so-called ‘disadvantaged children.’ We just need teachers who are dedicated and who believe their students can succeed," Toliver says. A teacher friend, Cathy Hess Wright has said of her, "Ms. Toliver is a teachers’ teacher. She knows how to reach inside the souls of the students and make them see that the power to succeed is within each of them. In a time when many young people feel that society has labeled them as failures, Ms. Toliver’s message comes through clearly as one of hope, discipline, and motivation."
Kay Toliver likes being recognized for her work, but mainly she finds rewards in the changes brought to the lives of her students by mathematics. She hopes some of her students will share her love of teaching and become teachers themselves. In fact, after he appeared on one television special, five students told her they wanted to become teachers. She had become a real-life role model after the television appearance.
"Becoming a teacher was the fulfillment of a childhood dream," says Ms. Toliver. "My parents always stressed that education was the key to a better life. By becoming a teacher, I hoped to inspire African-American and Hispanic youths to realize their own dreams. I wanted to give something back to the communities I grew up in."
Source: Arwen Larson, "Inspiring Young Minds: Kay Toliver," Technos Quarterly. Winter, 1993, Vol. 2, No. 4.
Visit the following web sites for more information on Kay Toliver:
Kay Toliver
The Futures Channel offers a bio and interviews with Kay Toliver as well as videos of her discussing her work.
National Math Trail
See the application of Kay Toliver’s ideas about mathematics education, and learn more about her at this site.
Kay Toliver
Listen to an interview of Kay Toliver, from Dialogues, a publication of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
"You Have to Have the Passion": An Interview with Kay Toliver
Kay Toliver discusses special needs children, the pressures of standardized testing, and more in this wide-ranging interview posted at the web site of the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education.
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