Writing in Mathematics

Writing is just as important a component of reading when it comes to literacy. I've noticed throughout this semester with my own assignments that writing can be an important part of math class. Getting them started with writing assignments earlier will be beneficial to the students in their math class and to their overall literacy. While a math journal was already mentioned in a blog, I've thought about other assignments that could require writing. In our cohort's math classes this semester, we've been required to do a lot of writing assignments. Since we are in a teaching program, our homework is designed to have us thinking about how we would explain these concepts to students. There is a great advantage to being able to explain something in order to better understand it. An interesting article about this idea is found here: https://www.livescience.com/34000-explaining-helps-understand.html . I would like to have students in my class explain the steps, in writing, for certain problems for homework. One website I found about writing in math is here: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/four-tips-writing-math-classroom-heather-wolpert-gawron . This would be incredibly different from anything I ever did in middle school math classes but have been expected to do a lot of in college. This could be very informal and I would just have them write about problems the way they would tell the student next to them having trouble. Kids can usually speak and explain well, so all they would need to do is put their ideas onto paper.

Text Set Brainstorming

Math was always my favorite subject. I could pick out patterns and I made connections to other concepts that I understood. As I've been working through this semester in my math classes and online tutoring, I've realized other students are not as lucky. I don't remember my teachers ever explicitly saying how different concepts were related to each other, and I can imagine this is something that is still overlooked and underestimated. It's a shame because students may understand one topic and then not be able to apply those same procedures to another concept that looks slightly different. One of my main goals as a math teacher will be to bridge these gaps in knowledge and help students apply them to many different types of problems. The brightest students who have enjoyed math typically find algebra and the introduction of letters into math equations to be their downfall. I think I would like to focus on algebraic equations and graphs for my text set. One article I have already found relating to this topic is found here: https://sciencing.com/linear-equations-used-everyday-life-6022370.html
These problems will only get worse for students when they reach quadratic equations and calculus. Helping students see what is actually going on is this topic and why it is useful can be one way to keep students interested and achieving in math.

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