Writing in Junior High Math (Geometry)

On a recent test, I decided to try something new in my classroom and use an essay question. The reason for this experimentation is that I had recently attended a PGO titled “Making Meaning Reading PGO Part I” and the presenter had brought a book with writing prompts in it. Multiple writing prompts fit with the material that we were doing at that time but the one that I choose had the students describe area and perimeter. I did not know what to expect out of this and was afraid that all of my students would simply state how to find the area. I read and graded the students answers to the question. To my great surprise, one of the first papers I corrected had the exact explanation that the area is the amount space inside a figure and that the perimeter is the distance around a figure. Only a few students had similar answers but I believe that this shows that they have a better understanding of area and perimeter than their classmates who only look at it as an equation used when asked. I plan to continue to use writing prompts on tests as well as an opener for class since there were many different questions available in the book that relate throughout the geometry curriculum. I believe that this would be a good opportunely to use think, share, pair int he math classroom.

Common Core Literacy Standards?

The Common Core State Standards Initiative, sponsored by the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers, has published a draft of K-12 standards for literacy and math.  The core standards have been linked with Race to the Top funds.
The literacy standards include an articulated set of K-12 skills designed to "help ensure that all students are college and career ready in literacy by no later than the end of high school."

The document outlines a rationale and skill set for reading in the content areas which aligns with our approach to integrating reading in the content areas: "The student who is college and career ready... build[s] strong content knowledge. 

• Students establish a base of knowledge across a wide range of subject matter by engaging with works of quality and substance.
• They become proficient in new areas through research and study.
• They read purposefully and listen attentively to gain both general knowledge and discipline-specific expertise.
• They refine and share their knowledge through writing and speaking."

The draft also includes Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies & Science:

"Just as students must learn to communicate effectively in a variety of content areas, so too must the Standards specify the literacy skills and understandings required for eventual college and career readiness in history, social studies, and science as well as ELA [English Language Arts]."

The draft also includes appendices which outline supporting research, provide student writing samples for each grade level, and identify text exemplars (titles, excerpts, and media links). 

What do you think?  Check out the standards - they are open for public feedback through April 2.

For an overview of the standards and political controversy, read the Associated Press (AP) report hosted by Google or Washington Post review.  Read more at Education Week.

New Book - Great Resource

Reading, writing, speaking, and listening are all literacy skills we need to teach and reinforce across the curricula.  If you visit our online professional library and search for 'reading' you'll find a growing wealth of resources that provide tips and ideas for embedding literacy practices into your lesson plans.  The latest book, Building Reading Comprehension Habits in Grades 6-12: A Toolkit of Classroom Activities by Jeff Zwiers, was puiblished by the International Reading Association and chock-full of reproducible activities organized around key comprehension skills that are integrated into our elementary and middle school curriculum:

• organizing text: identifying main ideas and summarizing
• connecting to background knowledge
• making inferences and predictions
• generating and answering questions
• understanding and remembering word meanings (vocabulary)
• monitoring one's own comprehension

You can preview much of the book online through Google Books.