Urquhart, V. (2009, April). Using writing to improve math learning. Middle Ground, 12(4), 17- 18.
In her article, Urquhart explains the steps that one teacher took to use writing to improve students' math learning.
1. Identify the current mathematics content and the learning goal (e.g., activate metacognitive process).
2. Develop or select a question or prompt that will help students access prior content knowledge and focus their learning.
3. Introduce the writing prompt to students through a variety of methods.
4. Model for students examples of responses of varying quality and discuss each.
5. Allow a few minutes for students to respond individually to the prompt.
6. Collect and quickly scan responses to get insight about students' readiness to learn.
7. Adjust your lesson accordingly. (If many of the students are not ready to try something new, you might need to review earlier content, or you might want students to work in pairs of triads to collaboratively solve a new problem) (p. 18).
Thursday, July 23, 2009
7 x 13 = 28
Just to get started, I wanted to share a great clip about the power of discussing math. Being able to talk about math can open new avenues of learning, but (with Abbot and Costello) sometimes those avenues can be headed in the wrong direction.
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