The flow of writing is important. I didn't think of revising as part of the reading/writing process, good grab! Fresh eyes are always nice as well. I didn't make the connection of step-by-step instruction being really considered "writing."
I also do the vocabulary piece with math, generally with a here is the word and its meaning type thing with usually a question or two on a test.
Revising is a great point. I don't know if most people think of revising as a big part of reading and writing, but it is. I wasn't sure if talking about writing out your steps for a math class was considered cheating for this yodio...I didn't think so, but I wasn't man enough to use it as my example. I think it is crucial for students to write out every single step of a problem. It makes it so much easier to find out what went wrong when they miss a problem.
I like the idea of writing out definitions also, they can get confusing sometimes and students can twist the meaning and try to use things for other problems when they don't work. It is good to be overly clear on definitions.
Hey, it is great to hear how you already incorporate writing in your math class. I sometimes thought it was a pain in the neck to have to "show all my steps" in math, but I was thrilled when, for the first time in Calculus, my teacher had us write a sentence for the final answer (nothing long, really only "therefore, if ...."). Made me feel better about showing all the steps, because then I started to view it as a kind of story (intro, middle, and conclusion).
You all are doing such a nice job of articulating the metacognitive process of reading. It seems like you are making the connection between reading print and reading other symbol, aka math.
Dave you make an excellent point about the importance of the revision process. The revision process is where learning can really occur. It's important to make a distinction between editing and revising though. Editing doesn't take much higher level thinking--but revision does.
You've got some good ideas for integrating literacy into your math class. I would suggest that you think about how to get the students to do writing as well. When you write down the steps (which is a good idea), you are doing the thinking--they are copying. But, when they can articulate how to do something in their words, then they are doing the thinking.
Writing out the steps in words is so great. Math minds are likely to understand and track information with “typical” math terms. Those that have the ability to succeed in math, but their wiring is different, will grow leaps and bounds in your classroom. I am the product of several teachers who employed the method of using writing to explain math and I can tell you from a Language Arts mind, this was amazing. I now consider myself a lover of math and have been quite successful in my math endeavors!
The flow of writing is important. I didn't think of revising as part of the reading/writing process, good grab! Fresh eyes are always nice as well. I didn't make the connection of step-by-step instruction being really considered "writing."
ReplyDeleteI also do the vocabulary piece with math, generally with a here is the word and its meaning type thing with usually a question or two on a test.
Your insight is awesome.
Revising is a great point. I don't know if most people think of revising as a big part of reading and writing, but it is. I wasn't sure if talking about writing out your steps for a math class was considered cheating for this yodio...I didn't think so, but I wasn't man enough to use it as my example. I think it is crucial for students to write out every single step of a problem. It makes it so much easier to find out what went wrong when they miss a problem.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of writing out definitions also, they can get confusing sometimes and students can twist the meaning and try to use things for other problems when they don't work. It is good to be overly clear on definitions.
Hey, it is great to hear how you already incorporate writing in your math class. I sometimes thought it was a pain in the neck to have to "show all my steps" in math, but I was thrilled when, for the first time in Calculus, my teacher had us write a sentence for the final answer (nothing long, really only "therefore, if ...."). Made me feel better about showing all the steps, because then I started to view it as a kind of story (intro, middle, and conclusion).
ReplyDeleteYou all are doing such a nice job of articulating the metacognitive process of reading. It seems like you are making the connection between reading print and reading other symbol, aka math.
ReplyDeleteDave you make an excellent point about the importance of the revision process. The revision process is where learning can really occur. It's important to make a distinction between editing and revising though. Editing doesn't take much higher level thinking--but revision does.
You've got some good ideas for integrating literacy into your math class. I would suggest that you think about how to get the students to do writing as well. When you write down the steps (which is a good idea), you are doing the thinking--they are copying. But, when they can articulate how to do something in their words, then they are doing the thinking.
Writing out the steps in words is so great. Math minds are likely to understand and track information with “typical” math terms. Those that have the ability to succeed in math, but their wiring is different, will grow leaps and bounds in your classroom. I am the product of several teachers who employed the method of using writing to explain math and I can tell you from a Language Arts mind, this was amazing. I now consider myself a lover of math and have been quite successful in my math endeavors!
ReplyDelete