Reading in Math

1. Reading in Math Reading and reasoning in the Math classroom

3. Gates of opportunity: Foreign Languages Science English Math Social Studies “Reading don’t Fix No Chevy’s”

4. Cycles of reading growth

5. Cycles of Reading Failure

6. TIME spent reading

7. The SPECIAL CASE of reading in math • When teachers think aloud about math “texts” they provide a model for: • Mathematical thinking/reasoning • Reading comprehension • “Close readings” • When teachers ask students to put math knowledge into writing they: • Practice encoding mathematical ideas

8. Literacy for Math/Math For Literacy Working smarter, not harder at teaching math.

9. Today’s agenda=your top two • VOCABULARY • Teaching words in 3-D • COMPREHENSION • Think-alouds to demonstrate your meaning-making and reasoning process • Using writing to check for and deepen understanding

10. What makes math texts difficult? What do you need to know in order to answer this 8th grade TCAP question: About how many miles are equivalent to 55 kilometers (1kilometer is about 0.621 miles) • 341.550 miles • 88.567 miles • 55.621 miles • 34.155 miles

11. Accuracy matters • About how many miles are ________to 55 kilometers (1kilometer is about 0.621 miles) • About how _____miles are equivalent to 55 kilometers (1kilometer is about 0.621 miles)

12. Math text demands • Density of ideas…requires close reading • Multiple meaning words…requires deep (not surface) word knowledge • Comprehension of pictures and abstract symbols…not just words.

13. Principles for students reading math textbooksBy Tim Donohue, Smoky Hill High School • Speed kills. This is not a magazine. • Read/reread with a pencil and paper in hand for notes. • There are never enough commas. Insert your own pause to help you slow down. • Draw and label diagrams as you go. Think about related problems and procedures as you read. • You can’t just read, you have to “do it” as you go. • Magic sometimes happens between the lines. • Follow the instructions (“Review the proof…”) • The figures and tables are important • The same number has different faces (1/4, .25) • Mathematical writing has an idiosyncratic structure that when mastered will aid in constructing meaning.

14. From another math teacher… • Slow down!! The flow of a math book is not like the flow of a novel. • Every word counts. Math books are usually not repetitive, so there is little chance of picking up missed information from reading on. Writers of math textbooks believe that extra words get in the way of clarity. • Do not skim diagrams or other kinds of illustrative material. They hold as much meaning as printed words. • Words and symbols of math have very specific meanings. • Students are made aware that mathematics textbooks follow this expository pattern: statement, example, and explanation/summary. • Understand each sentence before you go on. Reread as many times as necessary.

15. Comprehension is a meaning-making, message-getting process Reading is an interaction

16. A tale of three coaches…

17. Comprehension is a meaning-making, message-getting process

18. Meta-cognitive Strategies: making the invisible Visible • If you asked the average proficient reader what she does when reading, she might simply say, “I read.” But upon further investigation she would find that she unconsciously processes and problem-solves as she reads, almost like a reflect. We teach our brains to adjust to the different demands of various types of texts, which helps us read an income tax form just as successfully as we read a novel. We may not enjoy both text equally, but we can read each effectively and strategically.” -From The Right To Literacy in Secondary Schools

19. Our focus: The activity • What do you do to make meaning out of a difficult passage? • Watch yourself as a reader • How • Ask yourself – what do I know? How do I know it? What am I doing to fix what I don’t know? • Why • cognitive apprenticeship • Model complex invisible skills

20. How do I know what I know? What am I doing to understand? “Batsmen & Bowlers” The Batsmen were merciless against the Bowlers. The Bowlers placed their men in slips and covers. But to no avail. The Batsmen hit one four after another along with an occasional six. Not once did their balls hit their stumps or get caught.

21. How do I know what I know? What am I doing to understand?

22. Making meaning from symbols

23. Reading is thinking… • Predict • Connect • Infer • Visualize • Question • Summarize • We all do this all the time, but need to be reminded/guided to do it (“think”) while we read.

24. Reading strategies in math look like… • (see handout)

25. Using your sample test items • Working with your tables, select a question and use a post-it to note what you might “think aloud” as you read this problem to your students. • What strategy are you using? • What can you tell them about how you make sense of the words and symbols? • NOTE: any strategy could be used with any question, but some are more likely to be helpful than others

26. What does reading comprehension instruction look like? • Math classes nation-wide are often reading-instruction-free in an “ASSIGN-ASSESS” cycle. When students do not understand what they read we often say… “read it again” “think about it” “draw it” “try again”

27. Toward a scientific view of reading comprehension as an active meaning-making process We ASSIGN and ASSESS without teaching because reading comprehension is: • Complex • Invisible • Obvious to us as expert readers

28. How do we teach strategies? MODEL – PROMPT - GUIDE • Gradual release of responsibility= I do, We do, You do. Watch me! Help me Show me

29. Making the invisible visible ANNOTATION: Choose a set of symbols to “code” the text. Examples: • Operation words and context words • People, places, dates • Vocab and unfamiliar words • Subjects and actions (who and what) • Greek and Latin roots you recognize • Direction words STOP AND JOT: keep track of your thoughts, key words, translations in the margins

30. Literacy for Math/Math for Literacy • Read-aloud/think-aloud demonstrates your thought process • Models and gradually releases responsibility for comprehension STEP 2: Writing about math…

31. Integrating writing… • Allows students to process information linguistically • Put “mathematical” thoughts or their own thoughts into words • Reinforces vocabulary in a different mode (reading/writing) • Reading and writing are reciprocal (practice encoding is as good as practice decoding)

32. RAFT: teacher sets raft, students write accordingly • Role: • Audience: • Format: • Topic:

33. RAFT examples: • Create a personal ad atoms advertising who they would want to make ionic or covalent bonds with. • You are placing a want add for a missing angle in your equilateral triangle. What does the angle need to be like?

34. RAFT examples for math

35. Math Journal • Math stories • Combine pictures and words • Tell step-by-step directions as a narrative • Write letters to yourself, a younger sibling, a pen-pal, the teacher explaining what you know or a procedure you’ve learned

36. One-Minute Papers/60 second elevator speech • Index card or scrap of paper, or email • Limited space of the card forces students to focus • Lowers levels of writing anxiety • Summarize, question, reiterate, support or counter a thesis or argument, or to apply new information to new circumstances • Gives students practice putting their mathematical knowledge into words

37. Wait! What about phonics and fluency in middle and high school???

38. Word Study from pre-K-graduate school… phenomenology ph-enomenolog-y phen-o-men-ol-o-gy phenomen-ology

39. Integrating word study without “stopping everything” • As you come to words, make a habit of visually showingthe roots, prefixes and suffixes. • Put meaningfulroot words on the word wall and add them to the vocabulary you practice and quiz • Think aloud about how you approach long, complex words – show them how your scientist brain handles science words. • Teach the “chunks” and how to “chunk a word” as part of your vocabulary instruction.

40. Wait! What about phonics and fluency in middle and high school???

41. Word Study from pre-K-graduate school… phenomenology ph-enomenolog-y phen-o-men-ol-o-gy phenomen-ology

42. Integrating word study without “stopping everything” • As you come to words, make a habit of visually showingthe roots, prefixes and suffixes. • Put meaningfulroot words on the word wall and add them to the vocabulary you practice and quiz • Think aloud about how you approach long, complex words – show them how your scientist brain handles science words. • Teach the “chunks” and how to “chunk a word” as part of your vocabulary instruction.