Using Reading Strategies in Math Class

1. Using Reading Strategies in Math Class Presented by Cynthia Martin, Reading Specialist Tallassee Elementary School November 13, 2012

2. Introduction & Overview • Goal of Presentation • Essential Question • Reading Strategies during Math class • Strategies to Build Math Vocabulary • Action Steps • Q & A

3. Goal • To provide teachers with the opportunity to explore the use of reading strategies as tools for helping students gain greater understanding in math.

4. Essential Question • Which reading strategies can be used to assess, address, and advance? • Student reading levels in math • Vocabulary understanding • Comprehension skills

5. Change Takes Time • “Problem –solving ability does not develop over a few weeks or months. Nor is it a topic that is taught at a particular grade level…we need to address problem solving EVERY DAY, in EVERY LESSON, beginning in Kindergarten and continuing through high school because problem solving and learning mathematics are so intimately connected.” (Van de Walle, 1994).

6. Strategies to Address Reading Levels • Many of the process skills needed for Math are similar to reading skills and when taught together reinforce each other. • These common skills include: • activating prior knowledge, • predicting, • synthesizing information, • making inferences, • drawing conclusions, • asking questions, • making connections, comparing and contrasting, • and building vocabulary.

7. Why use Reading Strategies during Math instruction? • “Why do we compartmentalize thinking and learning throughout the day?... • We should apply schema theory and metacoginition to the fundamentally important problem-solving processes on which mathematical understanding rests…” • Ellin Oliver Keene,2006

8. SO, Why? • “If you want students to understand mathematical ideas, they must use both language and thought. Trying to put more thinking into the math curriculum without attention to language will be fruitless…” • Arthur Hyde- Comprehending Math,2006

9. MATH IS A LANGUAGE! • Galileo said…”Mathematics is a language. The laws of nature are written in the language of mathematics. The symbols are triangles, circles, and other geometrical figures, without whose help it is impossible to understand a single word.”

10. How Can We USE Strategies? • Teach students to become ACTIVE READERS!

11. Prediction • Students take prior knowledge and make an “educated guess” about what they think the answer will be…Sometimes they will be asked to use information from the problem. It is important that they know that predictions must be supported!

12. MAKE A PREDICTION! • What is the perimeter if we covered the gingerbread man chest with, marshmallows, cheerios, or smarties!

13. Prediction Chart

14. Connections When students have a connection to the learning, they will be more apt to internalize and own the process. Activate prior knowledge before solving math problems. Facilitate connection-making for students so they will see relevance.

15. Making Connections Ask yourself, “What does this problem have to do with me or my life? How could I use this information that I have learned?”

16. Connections Chart

17. Use a Connections Chart

18. How can we use connections to solve this problem? Carla wants to build a fence around her pool. Her backyard is 45 feet long and 35 feet wide. How much fence does she need?

19. Before they get started… Have a quick conversation with your students before they attack the problem about fencing and yards, activating prior knowledge about perimeter…

20. Try This! Build prior knowledge by downloading “Images” from Google. This picture took about a minute to download.

21. Connect the problem to the learner. There was a dog at the park. Then 5 more dogs came. How many dogs are in the park now? (Think about your dog, Jack, at home!)

22. Questioning Paired Reading and Questions The questioning process slows students’ reading and thinking down. It forces students to return to the text to find ways to solve the problems. Pairing students as questioner and responder facilitates planning for problem-solving. Sentence-by-sentence reading, questioning, then rereading and answering focuses the students. Continued practice will foster independent strategy practice and usage.

23. Questioning Strategy

24. Problem • Amanda and Jessica went shopping at the mall. They decided to only shop at stores that were having a sale. At one of the sales, shirts were marked down $4. You bought 3 shirts. A sales tax of $2 was added to your bill. Bringing your total to $50. Find the price of the shirt before the sale. • USE THE KNWS Chart

25. KNWS

26. Visualization Visualizing makes abstract ideas concrete. Lots of math concepts (time, weight, distance, length, and width) are better understood when made visual. Drawing a picture OR creating a table, graph or diagram can facilitate problem solving. Making those visuals before they begin their calculations makes it easier for students to “see” their way to the answer!

27. Visualization • “Make a movie in your mind!” • If that does not work for your students, have them draw a pictorial • representation with a study buddy. • Let’s try this: • You enter the front door of a museum. You walk 66 feet from the entrance to the back of the great hall. Next you walk another 98 feet until you reach the end of the second huge gallery room. How far have you walked? • Circle the expression that describes the problem. • A. 66+98 B. 98-66 C. 98X66 D. 98/66

28. You have to visualize this! VISUALIZE!!! How many feet on two cows and three chickens?

29. Inference • Sometimes all of the information you need to solve the problem is not “right there”. • What You Know • + What you Read • ______________ • Inference

30. Let’s infer to solve this problem. • There are 3 people sitting at the lunch table. How many feet are under the table? • What I Read: There are 3 people. • What I Know: Each person has 2 feet. • What I Can Infer: There are 6 feet under the table.

31. How can we infer to solve this problem? • In the morning, Mary and Billy each caught one fish. Mary’s fish measured 9 decimeters and Billy’s fish measured 1 meter. In the afternoon, Mary caught another fish. It was the longest fish of the day. Which number sentence shows how long Mary’s fish was that she caught in the afternoon? • 9+1 B. 9-1 C. x>1 meter D. 90+1

32. Determining Importance • Some students cannot figure out what information is most important in the problem. This must be scaffold through • explicit modeling by the teacher • guided practice with a study buddy • over learning through independent work

33. Solve this! Carlos was restocking the shelves at the grocery store. He put 42 cans of peas and 52 cans of tomatoes on the shelves on the vegetable aisle. He saw some tissues at the register. He put 40 bottles of water in the beverage aisle. He noticed a bottle must had spilled earlier so he cleaned it up. How many items did he restock?

34. Strategy

35. Synthesizing • Journaling as a closure activity gives students an opportunity to summarize and synthesize their learning of the lesson. • Encourage students to use math word wall words in the journaling. Also, post words like “as a result”, “finally”, “therefore”, and “last” that denote synthesizing for students to use in their writing. Or have them use sentence starters like ”I have learned that…”, “This gives me an idea that”, or “Now I understand that…”

36. Or…have them choose 2 • I notice • I think • I like • I learned • I wonder

37. WHAT WE FEEL!!

38. Let’s take a new look at math literature!

40. Action Steps • Use Reading Strategies in Math Class • Use Math Vocabulary Roots throughout the day • Practice solving Math word problem • Practice ! Practice !Practice!

41. Bibliography • AIMS solve it! k and 1 (2005).AIMS Education Foundation, Fresno, CA. • Content area guide: math (2002). Great Source, Wilmington, Massachusetts. • Harcourt math problem solving and reading strategies workbook (2004).Harcourt, Orlando. • Harvey, Stephanie & Goudvis, Anne (2000). Strategies that work, Stenhouse, Markham, Ontario. • Hyde, Arthur (2006). Comprehending math, Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH. • Math to know (2004). Great Source, Wilmington, Massachusetts. • Robb, Laura (2003). Teaching reading in social studies, science, and math, Scholastic, New York.