1st Edition
Why Write in Math Class?
To help students communicate their mathematical thinking, many teachers have created classrooms where math talk has become a successful and joyful instructional practice. Building on that success, the ideas in Why Write in Math Class? help students construct, explore, represent, refine, connect, and reflect on mathematical ideas. Writing also provides teachers with a window into each student's thinking and informs instructional decisions.Focusing on five types of writing in math (exploratory, explanatory, argumentative, creative, and reflective), Why Write in Math Class? offers a variety of ways to integrate writing into the math class. The ideas in this book will help you make connections to what you already know about the teaching of writing within literacy instruction and build on what you've learned about the development of classroom communities that support math talk.The authors offer practical advice about how to support writing in math, as well as many specific examples of writing prompts and tasks that require high-cognitive demand. Extensive stories and samples of student work from K-5 classrooms give a vision of how writing in math class can successfully unfold.
Biography
Linda Dacey, consultant and professor emeritus at Lesley University, is committed to students learning math in ways that joyfully develop conceptual understanding. Her current major interests are communication of mathematical thinking, problem solving, and number sense. Linda is a prolific writer who has coauthored numerous books, including the Zeroing In on Number and Operation series and the three-volume Well Played: Building Mathematical Thinking Through Number Games and Puzzle, K-8, series.
Kathleen O’Connell Hopping is mathematics curriculum specialist at the Lincoln School in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Her K-5 mathematics experience enables her to support teachers and students in a learning environment that develops communication and fosters connections to deeper mathematical understanding.
Rebeka Eston Salemi is a kindergarten teacher at the Lincoln School in Lincoln, Massachusetts. In a career spanning almost 40 years, she has always been curious about how young children navigate and make sense of the world around them.
“Why Write in Math Class? K-5 focuses on five types of writing in math and how these approaches can be added to math teachings. Connections between math and literacy support both disciplines when integrated in such a manner as to be supportive building blocks. This survey is also unique in its personalized approach which outlines techniques and educator reflections on each activity's results and process. From teacher professional development to revised approaches to student learning in both disciplines, educators receive clear discussions of pros, cons, and special challenges and rewards of encouraging these connections.”
-Midwest Book Review, The Education Shelf
