The opening of another school year is coming fast! Time to contemplate various goals. What area or areas do I want to focus on? Our students take so many important standardized tests, how can I help them be more successful? I believe if our math students did a better job of reading the test questions, they would have a greater chance of answering the question correctly. Many times I hear students say they just didn't understand what the question was asking.
Consequently, we need to help our students develop solid reading skills within the context of mathematics. Active reading strategies of underlining text and circling key words help, but is there more we can do? I recently came across a K-N-W-S strategy / template. Tom Stull, a high school math teacher from Ludlow High School, has developed this guide. Students use the guide to assist them when analyzing word problems.
K - What facts students KNOW
N - What information is NOT NEEDED
W - WHAT the problem is asking them to find
S - What STRATEGY they will use
Tom has quite a few reading strategies that he shares which can be found on the More Reading Strategies in Action - Mathematics High School. For those of you interested in other levels or other areas, the More Reading Strategies in Action website has some great resources available.
Hi Jeannie,
ReplyDeleteI teach using the Everyday Mathematics program and they use a lot of diagrams to help students organize their work with number stories (word problems.) I do find often times mistakes are made when students do not take the time to read the questions carefully.
Jeannie~
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post 100%. As a special education reading teacher, I see far too often how a reading deficit impacts other areas...even math. I was curious what modifications your state offers to your CRT testing in terms of special education students on the math test. The only real modification that we offer for math is reading the question to the student. I am wondering what NH does?
Kacey,
ReplyDeleteNew Hampshire also allows the reading of the question to the student. We have other modifications for students who have difficulty writing, but I do not believe there are any other modifications regarding reading. We are not allowed to define any of the terms.
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