Building Mathematical Comprehension Book Study Chapter 4

 

I have been reading up a storm this summer!

 

Today, I wanted to take a moment to share my reflections on the book

Building Mathematical Comprehsion: Using Literacy Strategies to Make Meaning

 

 

With the shift to using metacognitive skills to develop meaning and importance in reading, I was really excited to think that these skills can be integrated in math as well! I  am all about using common language and thought processes throughout the day to make connections in learning amongst all concept areas!

 

 

Chapter 4 discusses increasing comprehension by asking questions.

 

The last two years, my campus was departmentalized. I have been an ELA and Reading teacher and have really worked on using metacognitive skills and comprehension connections to help students create a deeper meaning of what they are reading. During these two years, the quality of my questioning as changed. I am aware of the types of questions I use and the timing of my questions (before, during and after a lesson).The significance of tying their schema, what they have experienced in a reading environment and what is happening in the worked around them is essential for clear and deep understanding.

 

The same is true in math. I know....I was like...WHAT!?! Are you serious!?!

 

But it is!

 

Using the ideas of text connections, you can model and encourage students to make the following connections to the mathematical concepts to encourage a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts:

 

Math to Self

(Connections between personal life experiences and math)

 

Math to Math

(Connections that a student make other concepts and skills that they have learned along the way)

 

Math to World

(Connections made to the real world)

 

In addition to this little jewel, is the idea the just like readers, mathematicians have to be able to ask questions. This is done for many reasons, just like in reading and students must understand this to be able to actively think about math.

 

Students should understand (and the teacher must model) that: 

 

1. Questions should be asked before, during and after working with mathematical concepts.

 

2. Mathematicians ask questions for many reasons such as clarifying meaning, increasing engagement in the concept,  monitoring understanding, finding important information to solve the problem and even the simple curiosity and interest in the concept.

 

3. Mathematicians have to understand that their may be more than one answer and don't stop thinking about the question after finding one right answer.

 

4. They also understand that many questions will lead to looking deeper at the question for understanding.

 

5. Good mathematicians learn from the questions of others and understand that it inspires further thinking.

 

 

This can be modeled through think alouds- a must in every reading AND math class!

 

By this point in the chapter I was sold! So true and relevant and seemed perfect with the way that I teach reading. I am thinking....I can totally handle 4th grade math now! Lol...kinda.

 

So I read on.

 

There are several different types of questions that can be taught to...but guess what?!? You probably already have...NO JOKE!

 

Questioning strategies such as  QAR where students classify questions as right there, think and search or on my own, Thick and Thin questions and Thinking Stems can also be used, modeled and adapted for mathematical thinking!

 

It seems so simple...why didn't I think of that....LOL!

Make sure to take a moment and check out my cohost Leaping into Teaching and her fabulous post and find out her thoughts on chapter 4!
 

Building Mathematical Comprehension is a great read and I would love to hear what you think! Leave me a comment or join our linky to share your thoughts on chapter 4
(make sure to grab our button too)!
 

Make sure to check back in a couple of weeks as well! I will be hosting chapter 7 which all about determining importance when reading mathematical text!