As a math teacher I have struggled to find an appropriate integration of our literacy strategies in my classroom. It’s not that I disagree that improving literacy is my responsibility-- not at all-- rather I struggle to fit literacy in when a) there is so little time and so much math to begin with and b) for many of my students my “in” is the little wedge of confidence that they have in the one class where low reading skills don’t immediately single them out--- well not as much that is.
Coming from this perspective I appreciated how widely applicable most of this chapter is. “The goal of literacy assessment” the authors write is to encourage students to become “reflective, active, and purposeful learners.” This could just as well be the goal of any other type of assessment or educational strategy.
In taking this ‘goal’ literally I am slowly developing a niche for reading/writing in my classroom routines: namely, I am trying to make a habit of asking students to read out and write out steps and justifications of their thinking process and problem solving strategies. Not only is this just a general good practice, but I believe it has the dual benefit of 1) bolstering students with strong verbal skills and 2) challenging students who may already know what to do mathematically but not how to explain their own knowledge.
I was particularly interested by this chapters’ discussion of strategies to involve students in the assessment process. I love the idea of having students give input into the creation of rubrics. However I disagree that this type of engagement relieves teacher workload-- if anything it seems like facilitating this type of ‘mature’ student involvement would take a lot a lot of advance thought and planning. As a teacher I really struggle to draw out reflection or self-criticism on the part of my students.
A related struggle that stretches across discipline with implications for literacy is the challenge of getting students to use their own notes effectively. Of course in order for this to be possible their notes must be ‘usable’ i.e. ‘legible’ in the first place. However even those students who copy clearly must be explicitly taught how to look back and find answers to their own questions. It is a habit of self-reliance that sometimes seems impossible to build up in students with low confidence and low motivation... a crucial life skill that should be the goal of education in any discipline, but which in some ways seems more elusive that the most baffling phonics or factoring.
I do understand the comment about being a math teacher and little time to add literacy strategies to your lesson. Try incorporating these strategies when you introduce a new math chapter and students are not familiar with the vocabulary that is presented. There are several strategies in our text that you can use to assist with students learning new words that are presented to them. This would be a great start. Remember you do teach math, however, every teacher is a teacher of reading in some shape, form, or fashion.
ReplyDeleteHey Maya, it does seem like it may be difficult to incorporate the literacy strategies into your math class. I think at some point you have to use what works for you in your classroom. I know we all have gotten what is suppose to be the blueprint, but at the end of the day you have to make the best at what you have.
ReplyDeleteI think the strategy of asking them to write out their thought processes is an excellent one, and one I wish all teachers made kids do. I get so frustrated because so much of the time I feel like my kids just yell out words that they think "sound right," without thinking about what they're doing. During discussion my kids just yell things out, and I have to start at the most basic thing possible ("Okay... first tell me what the author is writing about, who is he talking about specifically?" etc). Anyways, I think it would be really helpful for their critical thinking skills to have to write out their thought processes in classes other than English.
ReplyDeleteMaya, it is excellent that you are making kids think critically and write about their thought processes and problem solving strategies. Helping students become effective note takers and consulters is a challenge I experience, too. I've found that even when students are copying notes directly off the board, they can be riddled with misspellings or errors, like when "noun" became "neon" in the notes of one of my students. I am constantly reminding me students to refer back to their notes as a resource.
ReplyDelete