Disciplinary Literacy in Mathematics

Focal Discipline: Algebra (Mathematics)

Disciplinary Literacy in our Focal Discipline:

• Types of Questions:
  • The types of questions that will be used in our focal discipline are questions that will pique students’ curiosity and compel students to seek an answer. (Spires, 2016, p.153)
  • “Questions should be relevant to students’ lives and of social importance, which often can be the most gripping aspect of inquiry learning” (Spires, 2016, p.153)
  • Questions should also be student-generated.  
• Methods of Inquiry:
  • The methods of inquiry that are typically used in Mathematics are methods of inquiry that are, “based on student interest” (Spires, 2016, p.153)
• Types of texts:
  • Mathematicians typically, “read advanced textbooks and authentic texts involving symbolic notations, graphic representations, illustrations” (Spires, 2016, p.153). 
  •    

• Disciplinary literacy practices:
  • Some disciplinary literacy practices of mathematicians are that they:
    • “Do not use sources”
    • Have a “strong emphasis on accuracy”
    • “Read graphics and prose together” (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2011, p.406)

Ideas for Teaching Students in our Focal Discipline

• Engaging students in cycles of inquiry:
  • This can be seen in a true/false video from TEDD.org
    • This was a video that we watched in one of our education classes
    • The teacher poses an equation with two expressions and asks the students to decide whether the equation is true or false. The teacher is orchestrating the conversation by engaging students in reasoning about properties of numbers and operations. The goals of this activity are rational thinking and developing justification for conjectures, rather than computation. This is an activity that was used in a fourth grade classroom. The teacher begins by showing her students an equation and reminding them that whichever answer they do decide on, they must have good reasoning skills to back it up.
    • The teacher is using math equations and coming up with word problems to use on the numbers she provides. She also has students using reasoning skills throughout each word problem. She has her students converse with their partners and peers before deciding on an answer. 
    • This lesson ultimately revolves around a math lesson. Students are being mathematicians throughout this activity. They are deciding if the answer is true or false, then they are defending their answers by using their reasoning skills. 
• Engineering/scaffolding their success:
  • A teacher at field has placed students into groups based on their level of ability in mathematics
    • Each group composed of four to five students 
    • The groups work with teachers on packets and break down the skills needed to solve the problem
    • Some groups go over the math lesson that was just taught early that day, others work on the practice problems, and some preview the lesson for the next day so they can be on track
    • These groups help the students because it scaffolds the information based on where the students stand academically
• Examining words and ways with words:
  • In one of our field placements, the observer noticed how students were involved in coming up with the standard for each class day.
    • The teacher would write the standard on the board each day of what was expected of them to learn.  The students would then work together to manipulate the wording in order for it to make sense to them.
    • They replaced the tricky words with easy to understand vocabulary
• Evaluating claims and ways with words:
  • A video we watched in one of our education classes showed students solving solutions in a variety of ways.
    • A few students were asked to show their work to the class as well as explain how they got their answer (example: did they make a graph or table to help solve?).
    • Other students were asked to provide reasoning as to if they solved the problem in a different way.
    • There was a class discussion allowing all students to have a voice and explain how they solved the problems with different strategies and understanding.

References:

Calling Plans . (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://www.dropbox.com/s/7sanrx7ztsc25v4/CallingPlans.m4v?dl=0.

Formative Assessment: Understanding Fractions. (2018, September 12). Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/video/formatively-assess-fraction-knowledge-sbac. 

Spires, H. A., Kerkhoff, S. N., & Graham, A. C. (2016). Disciplinary literacy and inquiry: Teaching for deeper content learning. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 60(2), 151-161.

Shanahan, C., Shanahan, T., & Misischia, C. (2011). Analysis of expert readers in three disciplines: History, mathematics, and chemistry. Journal of Literacy Research, 43(4), 393-429.Wimmer, J. J., Siebert, D., & Draper, R. (2017). Digital mathematics literacies. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 60(5), 577-580.

True/False Equations. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://tedd.org/?tedd_activity=truefalse-equations.