Incorporating literacy into
content areas other than reading is a necessity. Even in math class where
numbers are primarily used, literacy is still important. One easy way to
incorporate literacy into a math class is through picture books. Many
publishers offer a wide range of books that address math concepts. A few of
those are listed on
GoodReads’ sight. These could be used in the focus lesson. Which is the part
of a lesson that establishes a purpose and gives the student a model to follow (Frey,
Fisher and Gonzalez, p. 12, 2010). Several of these books talk about reasons to
use mathematical concepts, not just how to complete math problems.
Incorporating literacy content into math has always been a bit difficult for
me. Other content areas such as science are, in my opinion, very easy to integrate
literacy.
Last year I had a RTI group and our focus skill was asking
and answering questions. I wanted to do more than just read books and prompt
students. It was then that I tried a literature unit about space. I found
several great reading passages about space on Readworks.org. They are
wonderful because they are searchable by topic and tied to specific reading
ranges. In addition to small group readings I led the class through several
videos about space, planets, and astronauts. After the introduction I let the
student’s choose what to learn about as long as it was tied to the space theme.
They were elated. It turned out to be one of the best RTI groups I’ve ever had.
They were more than happy to learn about science while reading.
References
Frey,
Nancy, Douglas Fisher, and Alex Gonzalez. Literacy 2.0. Bloomington, IN:
Solution Tree Press, 2010. Print.
Photo courtesy of http://cdn.history.com/sites/2/2014/02/space-race-H.jpeg
Elfie,
ReplyDeleteAs a math teacher, I agree that it can be difficult to stop and remember that literacy is an essential part of my classroom. It seems like there are so many concepts to teach and that is more important than teaching skills for researching and writing. One way that I try to overcome this mindset is through project-based learning. I have found that this approach not only requires my students to apply what we are learning, but provides opportunities to work on bettering the student’s understanding of what it means to find information and create a product with technology.
Of course this is a work in progress in my classroom.
One other thing I would like to share is how I use the story “One Grain of Rice.” I like to read this story to my Algebra students at the beginning of our unit on exponents and exponential functions. I think this has been a great way to not only bring in reading, but to show an example of the concepts in this unit and get students thinking. Have you ever read this book? I just thought it might be something you could incorporate into your classroom since you mentioned that you find it harder to incorporate reading into math class.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Sara V
I have not read that book yet. I will have to check it out though. I really like your idea of project-based assignments. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for commenting.
ReplyDeleteElfie, I am not sure what grade you teach, but have you ever thought of creating an activity where the students have to figure out a series of problems and the sum of each problem is a letter? The student would then have to put the letters in some type of order to come up with a math vocabulary term?
ReplyDeleteAnother idea is to have your students create a board game that they have to create story problems to read that pertain to what has been taught in the class.
One thing that I do with math in my class is have my students research a different Hispanic country and they have to write a report on how the money system is different, what the exchange rate is and how that differs from our money system. This gets them writing and thinking about other money systems. You can also add items in such as, if a dress costs $70.00 in the USA and the money system of Mexico is 6.5 peso's to every US dollar, how much would that dress cost in Mexico? This gets students thinking out of the box and it also ties in with Social Studies and Foreign Language.
I also went to pintrest and typed in Math and Literacy, a ton of stuff came up. Most of it was geared towards younger children. I hope that you are able to find some wonderful things to use in your classroom.
Thanks for sharing!
Cheryl
I can definitely see where you would have a challenge to incorporate literacy into your math class at the older levels. All of my experience in the field of education in is the younger ages, therefore I can not offer many ideas like the others have offered. Although they have offered some awesome ideas! It is amazing to me to read about ideas from teachers of other grade levels and there ideas and techniques of integrating literacy into the different content areas.
ReplyDeleteI loved your project that you did with your RTI group! What a fun project for kids to do! It is also more interesting for kids to learn when they are learning about something that they were able to choose (within limits). I am a full believer in allowing my students to take charge of their learning, having the opportunities to choose what they learn (topics, themes).
Elfie,
ReplyDeleteAn easy way to integrate writing into math class is to have students create word problems that represent the math skill they have been studying. Have students use a game-builder type of tool and then share the games they create with peers (and even a global audience). I did this with my students, not just in math, but in other areas as well. They loved it. I used Quia, but now there are so many more game builders. I ran across a game about Harry Potter that was created by Alex R., one of my students: http://www.quia.com/ba/70029.html
I haven't had a classroom of elementary students for about 12 years, but I still keep my Quia account active since so many of the games I created and my students created are still be used by teachers and students. I logged in to see how many times Alex R.'s game has been played and I was shocked to see the number was 45,889! Talk about the power of a global audience!
Dr. Dell