Kirsten Schmidt
Strategy: Writing Math
Source: Math Forum: Learning and Mathematics
Link to the Strategy: http://mathforum.org/~sarah/Discussion.Sessions/Countryman.html
Give a thorough description of the strategy and how it will be implemented. This should be a summary of the strategy according to the original source:
Using writing exercises in math classes leads to a better understanding of the material and finely tuned math communication skills.
“Students need opportunities to organize, interpret, and explain, to construct, symbolize, and communicate, to plan, infer, and reflect. Practicing these fundamental skills will help [students] learn mathematics.”
Examples of writing exercises include: learning logs-personal accounts of the work done in class; freewrites (gets into students’ attitudes and feelings), finishing sentences, commenting on assignments, finding definitions, writing comparisons of different procedures. Journal writing is a way of having continuing dialogues with students and as a vehicle for student self-expression.
Explain what part of the standard course of study is addressed by this activity.
This strategy will be used as part of the daily curriculum of a math class.
Explain why you think this strategy will work. How does the strategy help your students learn?
I believe that this strategy will work because students will be constructing their own knowledge of material that will be easily remembered and easier for them to use. They will be interpreting information given to them into strategies that work best for them as individuals. Incorporating writing into the math curriculum will give students an extra boost of higher achievement in mathematics and higher confidence with the material. I think students will feel nervous about mixing writing and mathematics together but I believe that it will soon become a common, flowing practice.
