Courses Taught: Integrated Math I and Integrated Math II
University of Massachusetts, Boston: PhD Educational Leadership
University of Massachusetts, Boston: MEd Mathematics Secondary Education
University of Massachusetts, Boston: BA Political Science, BA English Literature
Dr. Mustapha Coker, PhD, joined CATS Academy in 2018. He has been teaching mathematics and English as a Second Language (ESL) to Middle and High School students in and around Boston for the past 25 years.
As well as teaching mathematics at the school, he also coordinates and runs both the Language and Culture Club and the Mathematics Translanguaging Lab.
He actively researches and writes on Translanguaging in Mathematics classrooms and Cultural Activity Theory (CHAT) in mathematics, cultural relativism connected to a Vygotskian Theoretical Framework. He has published writings on Linguistics and Translanguaging in Mathematics classrooms in academic journals like Academia and self-published a Translanguaging Novel titled: Dry Rain.
He received his PhD in Education Leadership on National and International Policy Analysis study and Research in Mathematics education at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. His dissertation research looked to understand further how English language learners or multilingual speakers of other languages learn mathematics in English only mathematics classrooms through Cultural Activity Theoretical Lens, CHAT.
He speaks diverse African languages including Wolof, Mandinka, (Fulani, Jola, Sarahule, Manjago), conversational French, (always learning Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Thai, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese).
He has his Master’s degree in Education with a special focus on teaching Elementary, Middle, and High School Mathematics. He received his Undergraduate degrees in Political Science and English Literature (Computer Science and Mathematics minors) at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He also received certification in Computer Science/Programming from New Horizon Computer School in Boston.
Dr. Coker claims to have inherited his “Happy Gene” from his mother who never stopped smiling.
