Reference the Instructional Routines summary from Part 4 and think specifically about the Math Language Routines. Then read the Advancing Mathematical Language summary which discusses the Math Language Routines in more detail. Finally, choose a couple short videos to watch from the Math Language Routine Playlist. Although she is using middle school content, the routines are usable (and powerful!) at the elementary level. Plus she's entertaining!
Consider
- What are your thoughts about incorporating math language routines into your math time?
- What caused you to pause and think?
- What math experiences from your own classroom came to mind as you were watching and reading?
Respond and Interact
After reading and watching, please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
After reading and watching, please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
I think, through the addition of number talks in my classroom over the last few years, I've seen the incredible value of language, discourse, etc in the math classroom. Because my natural tendency has always been to "get to the answer as fast as possible", it took me a while to buy in to the impact of taking time to talk through mathematical problems and scenarios. I have seen light bulbs go on for other students who might otherwise struggle - just by participating in mathematical language, routines, and number talks. Looking forward to this continuing with our new curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI think that due to the nature of the IM curriculum (lots of centers and warm-ups/cool-downs), there will be ample opportunities to strengthen mathematical language in the classroom. When working at their centers, students will be able to discuss their thinking with their partners and practice using the mathematical terms and language utilized throughout the lessons. Something that caused me to pause and think was the fact that because the curriculum focuses less on direct instruction and more on student collaboration, there will be fewer scaffolding opportunities for me, and I will need to be more mindful and efficient in the ways that I teach mathematical language to my students. I will need to spend some time thinking about how to do this prior to starting the new curriculum and will need to rely on reflection and observations of student understanding to determine whether or not students are grasping the mathematical language.
ReplyDeleteCo-crafting questions is a process that makes a lot of sense to me. I can see how there would be additional buy-in from the students answering questions created by themselves and their friends. There would likely be overlap with what the teacher intends to ask as well. Engagement would be greatly increased from the very start.
ReplyDeleteIn preschool, my students love to share their ideas. Although the video examples were much more advanced than anything we could do, the same level of instant engagement is created by having the students talk about what they notice and what they can do with materials. Kids usually volunteer ideas such as sorting, counting, making patterns, etc., which are often the same things we will ask them to do as part of the lesson.
Once again we are lettings our students lead this and meeting them where they are, and I love this. Students are able to use their own language to explain their thinking, work with each other to learn new language and then get an opportunity to learn the actual math language and to grow as mathematicians. In Kindergarten, they are so eager to share, work together and problem-solve, that I simply need to foster an environment conducive to this learning and watch them go. I'm actually thrilled that I will be learning right alongside my students and look forward to this shift in my math teaching/learning.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of including math language routines in our math time. I can see how giving students the language tools to talk about math can be beneficial for all students. It allows students to learn from their peers, strengthen their understanding and really dig into the problem before solving them mathematically. This will give students the chance to really dig into the problems not just focusing on solving them. I really liked the co-craft questions routine because in the past, my students have loved coming up with their own story problems so I feel that this a bit of an extension of that. One big switch will be that in the past, I gave students the opportunity to share their strategies and how they got an answer with their peers. This was a great way for them to show what they knew but really didn't allow all students to access the questions. These routines switch it around and have students talking about the problem before solving.
ReplyDeleteI think it's super important to include math language routines into math time! When a student learns a math term and is able to apply that term correctly, they have done some valuable learning. I like how there are many ways that we will intententionaly use to help students learn and use math language. In my class previously, I have put vocabulary words as we learn them up on the wall so students can see them all year long. I think it was helpful, but not as powerful as this system!
ReplyDeleteOne of the videos I watched was the Information Gap. The students were in control of the activity and they both had to think their way through the problem. While the problem card student did have more work to do, the second student was listening and thinking right along with the other student. I can see how it will be important to pair students up in a way that they are both engaged and not getting off task.
Another video I watched was Three Reads. This is similar to a routine I have students use when reading and doing reading responses. It is powerful and helps students comprehend the material, not just a once over read where details can be missed. It was pretty quick too so it feels like it will be easily incorporated into the lessons. I'm glad I got to see how she did it and then whisked them off to do their work together, I'm thinking on the visible boards around the room.
I can also see the importance of math language routines into instruction. As Krissy stated, students are sharing what they know and working collaboratively to improve their math language. One of the videos I watched the video on the information gap. In this video, the teacher shared how students can explain their reasoning and the necessary information needed and why they needed that information to solve. One partner has a data card and one has the problem. I can see the importance of modeling this skill with students so that they can become more confident with the routines. I am wondering what this will look like at my grade level and am looking forward to spending more time with the curriculum and gaining further insight in the best way to facilitate math language skills into instruction next year.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that the math language and giving students ample opportunities to use and practice talking about the concepts at the center of math instruction is a HUGE key in the success of student understanding of math concepts. The iM curriculum gives explicit opportinities for advancing of mathematical language daily in the warm up portion of the lesson. I never skipped this part of the math lesson and I am now learning that was a great decision. I am determined though to expand my use of this time for students by supporting and scaffolding them, especially the multiple language learners. I found that some of my multiple language learners would hold back during this part of our math time because of their lack of language skills. I think I could offer some sentence frames. Even if a multiple language learner does not feel confident yet to state their own notice or wondering, he or she could say that they agree with the statement of another student and explain why. Also, principle 1: Support Sense Making, caused me to think a bit. What can I do to anticipate challenging mathematical language and provide support? I think of anchor charts, visuals and body movements to connect to important words and concepts would work well for kindergarteners.
ReplyDeleteMath language routines make a significant impact for not only multi-language learners but for the students who need more time processing information. Math language allows students to learn from their peers through partner talk, and helps students think about the parts of the problem before solving them mathematically.
ReplyDeleteI watched the video, Three Reads, since this is used in first grade often. The Three Reads math language routine allows ample time for all kinds of learners to think deeply about the problem. A takeaway from watching the video is how the instructor explains what the purpose for each read and informs the students what to notice or think about as she reads the problem each time. This allows students to break down the problem and draw meaning, notice important numbers/values, and then ways to solve it.
I also watched the Collect/Display video which promotes the collaboration and sharing of student thinking, which can help support the multi-language learners.
I love that IM math amplifies, rather than simplifies math language for students through math language routines. This supports students’ understanding of mathematical concepts while also placing value on their reasoning and responses. It prepares students for the math that is going to be learned while nurturing their ability to communicate, ask questions, justify reasoning and responses, and critique other’s reasoning. Additionally, math language routines support our students who are learning mathematics as they are learning English.
ReplyDeleteIn the past I have had students use the prompts “First I . . .” and “Then I . . .” when explaining their problem solving. I am challenged to make use of language and prompts that involve describing, justifying, comparing and contrasting, and questioning when I implement IM math next year.
I watched the video on co-crafting questions because I am excited about having students create mathematical questions about the problems that we will be solving. Additionally, I watched the lesson on 3 Reads. I see value in both of these routines for increasing students’ understanding of mathematical problems and increasing their use of math language during discussions and problem solving.
Principle 2 of math language stuck with me because "Students need multiple opportunities to talk about their mathematical thinking, negotiate meaning with others, and collaboratively solve problems with targeted guidance from the teacher." This made me think back to the math centers that were already created within my classroom. the students get to repeat the skill in multiple opportunities. As a teacher, i would like to circle back and focus more on student voice during centers and after centers to wrap up the math lesson. using math language throughout the centers will guide more student learning.
ReplyDeletethe video I liked was the information gap. For kindergarten, I am wondering how I can simplify this for students. "what information do you need to know?" "why do you need to know?" I am imagining this process during story problems.
I think it is very important for us to incorporate math language routines into our daily math time. It is not only beneficial for our English Learners, but for all students, to have experiences with discussions, conversations, and mathematical thinking within the classroom environment. I liked that the IM Access included, “To support students who are learning English in their development of language, this curriculum includes instruction devoted to fostering language development alongside mathematics learning, fostering language-rich environments where there is space for all students to participate.” As a kindergarten teacher, opportunities with mathematical language can help all students in the classroom with their language development. Since asking questions can be a difficult concept for younger students, I am excited to try the co-crafting questions routine in my classroom. I loved in the video how she only gave them part of the problem and asked them to think of questions as a group. This quickly engaged the students, and everyone had a chance to ask a question without needing to worry about doing any of the actual math computation; They are given the “context of the problem without the pressure to solve it.” I think this will be a fun routine to introduce in the classroom and build on it throughout the school year.
ReplyDeleteThat playlist really helped bring these language routines to life for me. These routines are embedded into so many of the Illustrative Math lessons - I think it would be appropriate to show some of these short videos prior to teaching one of the routines to help support kids in what they look and sound like. So good!
ReplyDeleteThis year I witnessed first-hand how essential it was to incorporate these embedded math language routines into our math community. After watching these videos, specifically the MLR6 Three Reads, MLR5 Co-craft Questions, and MLR2 Collect and Display, I feel more equipped to amplify student voices, ask richer questions to facilitate discourse, and increase students’ understanding of mathematical problem solving.
ReplyDeleteMy students were very invested in co-crafting questions this year and because of this engagement, they created much more rigorous questions than I had anticipated. Not only did they work hard to challenge their classmates, but they enjoyed solving, discussing, and comparing strategies with other groups. The background buzz (discussion) in these videos really happens when teaching this new curriculum, and because they are active participants in the process, it truly sticks!
In our phonics curriculum we ask our students to use their phonics professor words to notice and describe new snap words (syllables, phonemes, vowels, blends, digraphs, etc.) to help build their understanding of how words are built. I can see this being used similarly using mathematical vocabulary to talk through their thinking. I appreciate the idea of having partnerships use questioning routines to encourage peers to talk through their reasoning.
ReplyDeleteI also watched the Three Reads video. I often would do something similar in my classroom. I would read through the story problem once and ask the students to tell me what they understand is happening, then we would identify the important information that would be needed to solve the problem/question, then we would find an equation that would help us get to the answer. Often there would be students excited to share if there was a different way that they found the answer.
Math language routines are a great way for students to process information. Working together allows students to learn from each other and practice the new vocabulary they are learning; it also helps them to break down steps to solve problems. In the first video I loved how she modeled math language routines and then worked out each part processing the information along the way. It was a good way for students to see the thinking that goes with this problem. I think this could be simplified for kindergarten during story problems. I am excited to see students grow with their math language routines and to see them grow in this area.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of incorporating math language routines within math lessons! Getting students to strengthen their understanding through the use of conversation and visual/written expression is valuable. I have found it to be challenging to ensure that students engage in discussion while also remaining productive and I think that by utilizing MLR more regularly, students will gain a better understanding of mathematical concepts and terms and, to use the IM term, "maximize their output."
ReplyDeleteIt is validating to read comments from those who have tried out the program to share how important the math language routines are. Anchor charts came to mind when I was reading the Collect and Display language routine. When I taught second grade in another state, Savannah explained how she solved a subtraction regrouping problem and then the students started saying things like "I tried Savannah's way" after that so we made a Savannah's Way poster. The Three Reads routine reminded me of LETRS training because LETRS strongly recommends multiple readings to deepen comprehension and language development too. I like the idea of withholding the main prompt/question until the third read so the eager beavers don't jump start solving before the second and third reading.
ReplyDeleteNaturally, as a first grade teacher, I feel that I often support discussions (MLR8), reading comprehension (MLR6), and connections (MLR7), so I think incorporating math language routines will feel comfortable for me, but I will need to be intentional. I am glad they are embedded into our lessons. I really like the sentence frames on pages 6-7 of the link Advancing Mathematical Language and Access for English Learners, and think those would be useful to have on posters while teaching students how to utilize their math language routines!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to incorporate math language routines into my math block. Like so many have mentioned it will not only help MLL learners but all students. I feel every student will benefit and gain confidence in their math skills. Vertical whiteboards are something I really want to try and use often. Watching several of these videos helps to see how to use the routines. The sentence frames are so helpful to use with the students.
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