Building Mathematical Comprehension Chapter 2

Mathematical Vocabulary, that's the focus of Chapter 2 of Building Mathematical Comprehension.

There are several ideas on graphic organizers and some bulletin board ideas offered in this chapter.  To be honest, I didn't do as well with vocabulary this last year as I had in the past.  As I reflected on the year, vocabulary building and instruction was an area I let slip.  I know how important it is to teach proper vocabulary to students, especially in mathematics.

One thing that I think was very helpful to me was a professional development where we collaborated vertically with the grade level teams below and above us specifically in the area of vocabulary.  We discussed the vocabulary that was currently being used and then suggested vocabulary we'd love for the grade level below us to begin implementing and using.  This was very eye-opening to my team as we spoke with the 6th grade team.  We learned that there were some key vocabulary terms that if we used in 5th grade, would be tremendously helpful to students in 6th grade as they deepen their level of mathematical knowledge.

I would strongly encourage you to get with the grade level teams ahead of, and behind your own and have a vocabulary conversation.  It can be informal and take just a few minutes.  You might be surprised at what you discover either about your own instruction or the instruction that might be happening before your students arrive in your classroom.

I think it's extra important for primary grade teachers to use correct vocabulary.  As a first grade teacher, I was certainly guilty of using "simple" names for math terms because I thought the true vocabulary words would be too difficult.  I soon realized that if taught correctly and used over and over, young students can understand the vocabulary just fine and it sets them up to be more successful in the future.

One of my summer tasks is to create a template/master of a student interactive math notebook to guide me through next year.  Vocabulary will be a strong part of that notebook.

How do you make sure your students get explicit math vocabulary instruction?  Be sure to check out the other posts on Chapter 2 linked up below.


Inlinkz Code:

An InLinkz Link-up

Building Mathematical Comprehension Chapter 1

Now that summer is here, I feel like I can blog again!  Whew, the school year can be busy.  I'm keeping busy through the summer though working on extending my knowledge to be a better teacher for next year.  I love participating in summer professional book clubs.  I plan to join Angela at The Cornerstone for Teachers for her facebook book club of her books beginning in July.  I'll be posting about some of the other books I'm reading as well throughout the summer.

This post, however, is all about the first chapter of Building Mathematical Comprehension.  Abbey at A Teacher Mom is hosting this study.  Be sure to check out the link up to see all the posts from participating bloggers.

To be honest, I've had this book a few years and have skimmed it here and there.  I tweek the structure of my math instruction each year and I'm still looking for a model that will work well for my students and for me.  I'm excited to read the entire book and hope that it will help me get closer to that perfect model this coming year. 

Chapter 1 focuses on comprehension strategies for Mathematics.  Not surprisingly, reading and math comprehension strategies are very closely linked! The biggest take away for me from this chapter is that we need to use a very similar gradual release model that we use in reading with math as well.  

We need to be very explicit in our gradual release: 

1. Explain WHAT the strategy is. 

2. Explain WHY the strategy is important. 

3. Explain WHEN to use the strategy. 

4. Model HOW to use the strategy. 

5. GUIDE STUDENTS how to use the strategy. 

6. Students INDEPENDENTLY use the strategy.  

Think about the "Think Aloud" lessons you often do in reading.  We need to do "Think Aloud" lessons during our math instruction as well.  This model will be great for introducing students to using comprehension strategies in deciphering their math problems. The remainder of the book goes more deeply into each of the comprehension strategies of:

• Making Connections
• Asking Questions
• Visualizing
• Making Inferences and Predictions
• Determining Importance
• Synthesizing
• Monitoring

I'm really trying to move to a more conceptual/exploratory math model to introduce math concepts.  So I wondered if this explanation model would fit into also sharing mathematical solution strategies.  I think that this can certainly happen during the discussion and wrap up phase of those activities.  I also think that we can teach students to model and explain their conclusions using this pattern.  Students can explain to their peers WHAT the strategy is they have determined, WHY it would be helpful or important, WHEN the strategy is useful or if there are circumstances when it fails and model HOW they used the strategy.  From there, they can guide their small group or class to use the strategy and time can be given for students to give the strategy a try.  

This model of students leading the way would need to be carefully constructed and I think the teacher would need to carefully select students who give a full presentation and limit it to 2-3 strategies, depending on the concept. 

How do you facilitate comprehension in your classroom?  Do you consciously use a think aloud method for teaching comprehension or solution strategies to your students?  

I'm excited to learn more explicitly about using each of these comprehension strategies in teaching mathematics. Come back each Tuesday for the next 2 months for ideas on the rest of the book.  Join in the conversation by leaving comments on the posts. 

An

InLinkz Link-up

Making Inferences and Predictions in Math

It's time for chapter 6 in the book Building Mathematical Comprehension by Laney Sammons.  You might be familiar with her other book, Guided Math.  If you don't have these books, I would highly recommend them both.  Click on the covers below to order them or take a look at them.

If you missed the first five chapters, head over to this post at Primary Inspired or this one at Thinking of Teaching to start at the beginning.

****I know it's a bit of a long post, but I hope it's full of information you'll find helpful.  There's a giveaway at the end of the post, so be sure not to miss that!!*****

This section is all about using the skills of inference and prediction in math.  The two concepts that really struck a chord with me are:
1~"When mathematical concepts are taught by teachers and then problems are assigned, versus using problems as a way to teach concepts and build conceptual understanding, students have few opportunities to practice thinking inferentially about mathematics.  ...In classrooms where students are expected to assume a major role in their own learning, they are encouraged to go beyond the literal mathematical information they encounter." (pg.178)

The district I work for have been very supportive of the task oriented mathematics.  Giving students open-ended problems to work through is so very powerful as they learn through struggle, inference, and logic.  I think there are 2 big road blocks in using tasks.  First it takes some training to get students to work in groups and to have the stamina to work through the problem.  Second, finding tasks.  Here's a few resources:

From Meg Anderson ~
     Open Ended Math Challenges Grades 3-6 
     Hands On Common Core Fraction Unit
     Hands on Decimal Sequencing
     Intermediate Math Journal Prompts
     Place Value with Large Numbers Activities
From Teaching with a Mountain View ~
     Division Project or Math Center *Movie Marathon* (Long Division)
     Multi Digit Multiplication Project for the Common Core *Resort Report*
     Breaking Up the Bakery: A Fraction Project , Center , or Assessment 
From Primary Punch ~
     Math Movers: Back to School Edition
     Math Movers: First Week of School Edition
     See all the items in the Math Movers Series here

Check the linky at the end of this post (under the giveaway) for more links to products and other blog posts on this topic.

2 ~"Think-alouds allow students access to the thoughts of their teachers.  To truly meet the needs of students, you must access their thoughts as well.  One-on-one conferences provide a portal into student thinking. ...Focused conversations with individual students allow you to see each student's strengths and weaknesses.  These insights allow you to specifically identify the instructional needs of each student..."

My first grade team the last three years did this really well.  We gave students a 10 question paper pencil assessment at the end of each math unit, but also did a 5 question interview with each student.  It was amazing the information I learned about students as they performed tasks in front of me or explained their thinking and understanding about a concept.  This information really helped guide my teaching.  It was especially helpful for our Re-teach and Enrich groups.  After each assessment students were grouped based on their performance for either further teaching on the concept, review, or extension.  This all took place during a dedicated half hour 4 times a week.  During our regular math session, we continued to move on to the next topic.  The burning question you're asking yourself...How did you have the time?  To create the tasks we worked on them collaboratively and based them from our objectives.  To administer, once I had a little practice, I was able to do all the assessment interviews in two days while students did review/extension math centers.  I tried to schedule a parent helper or two to help with the centers so my focus could be on the interviews.  It was well worth the time to get the information for improved instruction.  Now, if you're not going to use the information to guide instruction, then it's totally not worth your time.


Miss Nannini of the blog Young Teacher Love has amazing sets to help you in assessment.  She has the assessments ready for you and a system to have the students be accountable for their learning.  I've got all the 5th grade sets and am excited to implement them this fall as I move to 5th grade.  Many of her assessment items could be turned into a conference question.  You can see all her assessement products for grades 2-6 here.  And her accountability systems here.

Do you have information on this topic to share?  Leave a comment or link up below the giveaway.

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Building Mathematical Comprehension Book Study

Button by Brenda of Primary Inspired

I'm excited to be part of several book studies this summer.  I'm kind of a teaching practice study junkie in the summers.  I love to read professional books and learn some new tools to add to my tool box of teaching practices.

The first one will start on June 8th with the book Building Mathematical Comprehension.  Get your book by clicking below so follow along with us.  This is a great resource and I love the correlation given to all we know about reading comprehension directly to math comprehension.

We'll go through the book together as several bloggers share with us their take and some ideas on each chapter.  I'll be posting about Chapter 6 the week of July 9.  You can download the PDF schedule that includes dates and links to each participating blog by going here.  

Our hosts and coordinators, Brenda of Primary Inspired and Beth of Thinking of Teaching have done a wonderful job of coordinating and getting us ready for this book study.  They are hosting a giveaway for a copy of the book.  The last day to enter is TODAY, June 3, 2013.  Head on over to one of their blogs to enter.  

A linky party will be included in each chapter's post so that you can participate along with us.  We'll also be sharing via Instagram and Twitter with #getyourmathon. 

It all starts June 8th, so grab your book and your schedule and follow along with us.