Student Writing in Math

"I recently attended several reading PGOs and have come to realize the importance of using reading and writing in a math classroom. Mainly, I am finding that by incorporating more techniques, such as graphic organizers, that more of my students are able to understand the material we cover in class. Besides that, I am better able to determine the varying levels at which students understand the material. For instance, I chose to determine whether students truly understood the differences and similarities of various shapes, namely prisms and pyramids. I provided students with the writing prompt “Write a paragraph about the similarities and the differences between prisms and pyramids” and gave them time to work on it in class. I then collected the paragraphs and read them over to determine who in class truly understood the material and who still needed some more assistance. I found that there were a variety of responses, and that I truly did not do as great a job teaching about those two basic solids as I had originally thought. I have included two examples of the student work I collected. It is obvious student A has an excellent understanding of the material and is able to make comparisons to real-life examples. However, student B is not at the same level of understanding. Although he understands the basic differences of the two shapes, he is not able to make the same connections that student A has made."

Word Problems ... oh my!

My students have a great difficulty with word problems. After thinking about what it is that truly frightens them about these problems, I think they are overwhelmed with the material provided. In order to help them feel less afraid of these big bad problems, I created a lesson plan using a specific "formula" for helping them determine what information is needed, what information is not needed, and what they should do in order to solve the problem. This process is very similar to KWL, and will hopefully be able to help students feel more capable of tackling of these problems, rather than shrinking away from them.

KNWS Strategy for Word Problems

Reading in a math class? Are you kidding me?

Reading is often one of those things I tend to overlook when I am teaching. I don’t do this intentionally, but just assume that my students are capable of reading the material that I give them. Unfortunately, like many of the assumptions I make, I am very wrong!

After attending several PGOs about the importance of literacy in the classroom, I’ve come to realize that my students are not going to achieve the number literacy, or capability of solving math problems accurately, I want them to have without first ensuring that they are able to read and understand the material that I give them. I think that many of my students simply go through the motions of learning, following along as I explain problems and occasionally writing things down. However, when it comes time for them to solve a problem on their own they do not know how to pick apart a problem to determine the important information from the unimportant. They do not even seem to understand what the question is asking them to do, let alone how to go about solving the problem.

I know that by using more of the learning practices that involve reading my students would be able to better learn the material. It would give them opportunities to extend their thinking on the subject matter, as well as giving them more opportunities to “catch on” to what we are discussing. However, when it comes down to it, the main issue that seems to strike any teacher when incorporating another task in the classroom is that of time. By looking at the benefits of teaching with more literacy methods in place rather than focusing on the time I am sacrificing in the classroom, I know I can make more of an effort to use these tactics in the future. I am sure my students will be better off because of it!