Abstract
Scholars assert that the often-impoverished instructional practices found in urban schools are tied to teachers’ negative relationships with African American and Latin@11We use the @ sign to indicate both an “a” and “o” ending (Latina and Latino). In alignment with Gutiérrez (2012), we see this as a way to de-center the patriarchal nature of the Spanish language. It is customary for groups of males (Latinos) and females (Latinas) to be written in the form that denotes only males (Latinos) and we see the @ symbol as better than denoting and either/or (Latino/a) form that promotes a gender binary. students (Ferguson, 1998; McKown & Weinstein, 2002; McKown & Weinstein, 2008; Morris, 2005; Stiff & Harvey, 1988). However, measures of mathematics instructional quality rarely measure relational elements of instruction. This study responds to such shortcomings by analyzing relational interactions in urban elementary mathematics classrooms in tandem with content instruction of teachers who engage in supportive relationships with African American and Latin@ students. This study identified teachers with high quality student performance, content instruction, and supportive relationships as defined through relational interactions. After selecting two teachers, the results detail relational interactions that show how these teachers established supportive relationships with students vis-à-vis their mathematics instruction. Therefore, these findings offer insight into the ways in which relational interactions add to our understanding of quality content instruction for African American and Latin@ students.