Math & Literacy--Connections that Help Kids - Classroom 2.02024-03-29T10:23:20Zhttps://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/math-literacyconnections-that?commentId=649749%3AComment%3A249668&feed=yes&xn_auth=noI think you hit the nail on t…tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-01-07:649749:Comment:2565842009-01-07T16:48:18.530ZCarolyn Greenberghttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/CarolynGreenberg
I think you hit the nail on the head, Steve and Kate, as to the most provocative and productive angle of this discussion as stated by Steve..."when you foreground the disciplines, when you emphasize the role of certain literacies in making better mathematicians, better historians, better scientists etc, the emphasis changes (and the resistance isn't so strong) ... especially when you then start to think from inside the discipline about the specific literacies which are useful to that particular…
I think you hit the nail on the head, Steve and Kate, as to the most provocative and productive angle of this discussion as stated by Steve..."when you foreground the disciplines, when you emphasize the role of certain literacies in making better mathematicians, better historians, better scientists etc, the emphasis changes (and the resistance isn't so strong) ... especially when you then start to think from inside the discipline about the specific literacies which are useful to that particular discipline." Hopefully, our current bloggers and others will continue to contribute their thoughts and experiences on this.<br />
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The address to the Moje article cited in the discussion is here for anyone who wishes to see the full text.<br />
<b>http://www.reading.org/publications/journals/jaal/v52/i2/abstracts/JAAL-52-2-Moje.html</b> You put this so well Kate!
Ab…tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-01-04:649749:Comment:2528792009-01-04T04:52:14.565ZSteve Shannhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/SteveShann
You put this so well Kate!<br />
About three weeks ago I was asked by a university here in Australia to help co-ordinate and teach a course in late 2009 on 'literacy across the curriculum'. Initially I was worried, because I've seen a 'literacy across the curriculum' flop at my school through lack of time and commitment from teachers who couldn't really see the point. But an article by Elizabeth Moje from Michigan University called 'Foregrounding the disciplines ...' changed my thinking and feelings.…
You put this so well Kate!<br />
About three weeks ago I was asked by a university here in Australia to help co-ordinate and teach a course in late 2009 on 'literacy across the curriculum'. Initially I was worried, because I've seen a 'literacy across the curriculum' flop at my school through lack of time and commitment from teachers who couldn't really see the point. But an article by Elizabeth Moje from Michigan University called 'Foregrounding the disciplines ...' changed my thinking and feelings. She talked in the article about teacher resistance, and how it comes about partly as a result of the idea that we're just trying to get all teachers to teach a bit of English. But, she says, when you foreground the disciplines, when you emphasize the role of certain literacies in making better mathematicians, better historians, better scientists etc, the emphasis changes (and the resistance isn't so strong) ... especially when you then start to think <i>from inside the discipline</i> about the specific literacies which are useful to that particular discipline. I feel more enthusiastic, now, about teaching this course. The <a href="http://www.ccsso.org/projects/secondary%5Fschool%5Fredesign/Adolescent%5FLiteracy%5FToolkit/">Adolescent Literacy Toolkit</a> is something I'm currently exploring. Hmm, I just realized that we…tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-01-04:649749:Comment:2528402009-01-04T03:36:20.262ZKate Fanellihttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/KateFanelli
Hmm, I just realized that we might be talking about two different things.<br />
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One of them: Reading/Writing Across the Curriculum because it will help them learn those other topics in the curriculum.<br />
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The other: Reading /Writing Across the Curriculum because it will make them better readers and writers.<br />
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I think the focus at my school has been on the second of these. So, when we joked about doing math across the curriculum it was sort of like, if we're going to help the other teachers make the kids…
Hmm, I just realized that we might be talking about two different things.<br />
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One of them: Reading/Writing Across the Curriculum because it will help them learn those other topics in the curriculum.<br />
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The other: Reading /Writing Across the Curriculum because it will make them better readers and writers.<br />
<br />
I think the focus at my school has been on the second of these. So, when we joked about doing math across the curriculum it was sort of like, if we're going to help the other teachers make the kids better at their subjects, why can't they all help us make the students better at our subject, too?<br />
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But, I like the first focus better, which I guess is what everybody is talking about in this discussion. Right, how does being a better reader and writer make someone better at math? And, how does being good at math help someone be a better reader and writer?<br />
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Those are much harder questions than why and how we support reading and writing in every class in the building.<br />
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Incidentally, I had to teach reading for 3 years (in addition to my math classes). I also spent a year teaching English as a Foreign Language in South Korea. I realized that teaching is not teaching. I really didn't like teaching language and reading. I really enjoy reading and writing. I did well in at as a student, and I participate in them a lot as an adult, but teaching them was totally different. So trying to make a connection between the topic that I like teaching the most and that I dislike teaching the most is going to be a fun challenge. Funny how things have a way o…tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-01-03:649749:Comment:2524172009-01-03T18:18:09.413ZCarolyn Greenberghttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/CarolynGreenberg
Funny how things have a way of connecting to each other. I have attended a few of Darren's sessions at the Building Learning Communities (Alan November) conference that last couple of summers (amazing technology/curriculum learning opportunities there!). His work is really inspiring. A few of my math colleagues have implemented the scribe post/blog with some nice results. The power of writing (and also creating visual representations) to refine thinking in any content area is really illuminated…
Funny how things have a way of connecting to each other. I have attended a few of Darren's sessions at the Building Learning Communities (Alan November) conference that last couple of summers (amazing technology/curriculum learning opportunities there!). His work is really inspiring. A few of my math colleagues have implemented the scribe post/blog with some nice results. The power of writing (and also creating visual representations) to refine thinking in any content area is really illuminated by Darren's work. Access his blog at: <a href="http://adifference.blogspot.com/">http://adifference.blogspot.com/</a><br />
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In a previous post, there was a reference to math teachers joking about "math across the curriculum" initiatives to balance out the many "reading" and "writing across the curriculum" movements out there. Seriously, however, what tricks of the trade might math teachers share that would help our students as readers and writers? It seems that most of the buzz is about infusing strategies that have proven successful in literacy into the content areas----how about the opposite direction? What have we learned as teachers of math that could be applied in the language arts classroom? Kudos Steve, I just downloade…tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-01-03:649749:Comment:2520652009-01-03T13:23:44.217ZRoland O'Danielhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/RolandODaniel
Kudos Steve, I just downloaded the podcast from Darren also. I've been mentoring with his students for a couple of semesters and am always astounded by the work he does. His students may not know any more than some other Calculus students, but they are able to communicate their knowledge better after his class. I had the opportunity to teach some very bright students when I was teaching and I know they knew a lot (they scored very very well on the AP exam), but I'm pretty sure they couldn't…
Kudos Steve, I just downloaded the podcast from Darren also. I've been mentoring with his students for a couple of semesters and am always astounded by the work he does. His students may not know any more than some other Calculus students, but they are able to communicate their knowledge better after his class. I had the opportunity to teach some very bright students when I was teaching and I know they knew a lot (they scored very very well on the AP exam), but I'm pretty sure they couldn't express their understandings as well as Darren's students. Anyway, I think Darren exemplifies maximizing personal learning communities in education for students as well as for professional learning among adults. I've just come across the fol…tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-01-03:649749:Comment:2519632009-01-03T06:57:58.210ZSteve Shannhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/SteveShann
I've just come across the following <a href="http://www.speedofcreativity.org/">podcast</a>. I haven't listened to it yet, but will later. It looks interesting. It's described at the blog where it's posted as follows:<br />
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<i>This podcast features a recording of the January 2, 2009, live morning radio show interview in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on CJOB|68 with Darren Kuropatwa, minus the news and advertisement breaks. The conversation focused on Darren’s utilization of scribe posts by his Calculus and…</i>
I've just come across the following <a href="http://www.speedofcreativity.org/">podcast</a>. I haven't listened to it yet, but will later. It looks interesting. It's described at the blog where it's posted as follows:<br />
<br />
<i>This podcast features a recording of the January 2, 2009, live morning radio show interview in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on CJOB|68 with Darren Kuropatwa, minus the news and advertisement breaks. The conversation focused on Darren’s utilization of scribe posts by his Calculus and Pre-Calculus students at Daniel McIntyre Academy in Winnipeg, the imporance of numeracy as well as literacy, and the power of online learning communities to support as well as motivate students inside and outside the classroom.</i> Thanks to everyone for your t…tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-01-03:649749:Comment:2516952009-01-03T00:57:58.088ZCarolyn Greenberghttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/CarolynGreenberg
Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful posts! I am learning so much from all, and the discussion has truly enhanced my thinking about the topic. I hope every else feels similarly and that people continue to share.
Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful posts! I am learning so much from all, and the discussion has truly enhanced my thinking about the topic. I hope every else feels similarly and that people continue to share. Carolyn, Great discussion. I…tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-01-03:649749:Comment:2516832009-01-03T00:51:25.357ZRoland O'Danielhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/RolandODaniel
Carolyn, Great discussion. I haven't read all of it, yet, but this is a hot button topic for me! I spend most of my time helping teachers create a literate mathematics classroom from elementary to secondary. It is such a critical issue not because literacy is a hot topic, but because mathematical literacy is about communicating what students know about math, and quite frankly if they can't communicate their understandings then they probably don't know very much. What I loved about your original…
Carolyn, Great discussion. I haven't read all of it, yet, but this is a hot button topic for me! I spend most of my time helping teachers create a literate mathematics classroom from elementary to secondary. It is such a critical issue not because literacy is a hot topic, but because mathematical literacy is about communicating what students know about math, and quite frankly if they can't communicate their understandings then they probably don't know very much. What I loved about your original post is the question about the overlap between math and reading. It's interesting that what students tend to read most in math are equations and graphs. Both of those things don't read like a paragraph written in English. They can be read and are often read not only left to right but right to left and in the case of graphs are really read up and down as well as horizontally. Those processes need to be taught, and they are reading processes. The rest of this discussion will take some more reading but I will be back and I look forward to more discussion.<br />
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Thanks for starting this! I have taught Maths for over…tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-01-02:649749:Comment:2506562009-01-02T11:26:45.036ZSuehttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/Sue8
I have taught Maths for over 20 years and have firmly come to the conclusion that teaching maths is like teaching a language. If you do not understand the maths lingo then you cannot do the questions. Often the maths language is written in symbols (more so in senior years) whilst in other cases it is a worded question and you have to extract the question and write it down using maths symbols. Kids certainly need a good grasp of basic arithmetic to use once either the question is extracted…
I have taught Maths for over 20 years and have firmly come to the conclusion that teaching maths is like teaching a language. If you do not understand the maths lingo then you cannot do the questions. Often the maths language is written in symbols (more so in senior years) whilst in other cases it is a worded question and you have to extract the question and write it down using maths symbols. Kids certainly need a good grasp of basic arithmetic to use once either the question is extracted mathematically or "read" from the symbols. Sometimes the arithmetic basics can seem unrelated to the end task of being used in problem solving. I find that many teachers can use too much mathematical language and students do not understand. Often getting the students to teach each other is more effective. It is clearly shown in research that if a student does something alone then they will recall this only about 30% of the time - when discusssed with others, reflected upon this increases to about 60 % - when they show someone else this increases to about 80% recall. excuse the exact % I only remember them very roughly. So maths is all about language, interpretation, recalling and passing it on and then you have greater success with students. Now I work with teenagers, hormones on legs I reckon - so you have to get them interested to start with - that is an even bigger challenge. LOL This was one of the books tha…tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-01-02:649749:Comment:2503642009-01-02T03:18:56.238ZKate Fanellihttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/KateFanelli
This was one of the books that my school used in their launch of Reading Across the Curriculum. That's funny. I definitely think modeling how we read is a great idea. That's a good universal strategy for teaching. I'm not sure that it fits "Reading Across the Curriculum" as much as a "Study Skills Across the Curriculum" because doing meta-cognition type stuff isn't so much a literacy skill, it's more of an attack skill.<br />
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We do a lot of thinking out loud and deconstructing in math. Not just with…
This was one of the books that my school used in their launch of Reading Across the Curriculum. That's funny. I definitely think modeling how we read is a great idea. That's a good universal strategy for teaching. I'm not sure that it fits "Reading Across the Curriculum" as much as a "Study Skills Across the Curriculum" because doing meta-cognition type stuff isn't so much a literacy skill, it's more of an attack skill.<br />
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We do a lot of thinking out loud and deconstructing in math. Not just with story problems, but with the informational text that explains the steps and processes to do new types of number based problems.