Disciplinary Literacy - Mathematics Borough Instructional Leads for Mathematics Math Team Department of STEM February 11 th, 2016

The Shepherd Problem There are 125 sheep and 5 dogs in a flock. How old is the shepherd? How do you think students responded to this question? 2

Video As you watch think about: What aspects of literacy are student’s exhibiting or missing? What aspects are particular to mathematics and which are more general? 3

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Literacy vs. Literacy in Mathematics Based on what you saw in the video, how is literacy in mathematics different than literacy in general? 5 Same | Different

Outcomes This year:  Engage in mathematics together to build a common understanding of “doing mathematics”  Connect effective math teaching with the Mathematics Teaching Practices  Identify implications and next steps for planning professional learning. This session:  Develop an understanding of disciplinary literacy in mathematics. 6

Agenda 7 1How Old is the Shepherd? 2Disciplinary Literacy in Mathematics - an Experience 3Connecting Disciplinary Literacy in Mathematics to Practices 4A Quick Word About Keywords 5Developing a Definition of Mathematical Literacy 6Takeaways, Reflection and Survey

What is Disciplinary Literacy in Mathematics? Being literate in mathematics is different than other disciplines “Students of math need to come to text with an entirely different set of skills than students of English, history, or science and math teachers should be free to show students just how these ways of reading differ.” This is Disciplinary Literacy, p.18 8 What are the aspects of literacy in mathematics that are so different?

A Mathematics Task 9

Gallery Walk (r + s) (r – s) (r x s) (r ÷ s) Choose an expression to discuss, and gather near those posters 1.Discuss the similarities and differences between the contexts and representation used for the same expression 2.Use tables 1 & 2 (from the Standards) to identify which problem situations are exhibited. Discuss: How could the context or representation on the posters be changed to give examples of those problem situation that are missing? 10

Debrief (r + s) (r – s) (r x s) (r ÷ s) How has your thinking about the meaning of each expression and operation changed? How does this connect to disciplinary literacy in mathematics? 11

Connecting Disciplinary Literacy in Mathematics to Student and Teacher Practices Your table will focus on one of the following:  SMP 1 (Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them),  SMP 2 (Reason abstractly and quantitatively),  NCTM Teaching Practice 3 – Use and Connect Multiple Representations (from PtA book, p ) Read, Annotate and Discuss: What does the text tell us about how literacy in mathematics is different than literacy in general? (Use references to the text and specific examples from your experience of the previous task.) 12

Share from each group 13 What does the text you read tell us about how literacy in mathematics is different than literacy in general?

A Word About Word Problems 14

A Word About Word Problems 15 “Teachers often resort to helping children solve textbook problems by providing word cues... However, instruction of this type does little more than offer students’ tricks for figuring out answers. The cues focus on doing something with the numbers at hand, instead of making sense of the situation and modeling it mathematically.” -Marilyn Burns “Make Sense” vs. “Decode”

A Word About Key Words Subtraction More than Less than Decrease Difference Reduce Change Left Remain Dropped Lost Nearer Becky has $70 more than Perla. If Becky has $120, how much money does Perla have? Becky has $70 more than Perla. If Perla has $50, how much money does Becky have? Becky had 9 dinosaurs and then she lost 4 of them. How many dinosaurs does Becky have now? Becky had some dinosaurs and then she lost 4 of them. Now Becky has 5 dinosaurs. How many dinosaurs did she start with?

What is Disciplinary Literacy in Mathematics? Being literate in mathematics is different than other disciplines …mathematical literacy involves patterns, relationships, and examples of understanding through visuals or abstract representations. Not only do mathematicians read differently than those in other disciplines, but they use what they are reading in different ways. This is Disciplinary Literacy, p.18 17

18 Mathematical Literacy Developing a Definition Individually: In your own language – and using the ideas from our math experience today, SMP1, SMP2, and the Teaching Practice – write a definition of mathematical literacy to share with the group.

Defining Mathematical Literacy Table Share: Each member of group reads their definition to the table. Discuss similarities and differences Poster: With your table create a shared definition of mathematical literacy and write it on a poster 19

20 Reflection & Closing What are your biggest “take-aways” from this session? How will you utilize what you have learned?

Additional Resources…. How Old Is the Shepherd? An Essay About Mathematics Education, by Katherine K. Merseth Word Problems: Connecting language, mathematics and life, by Dr. Richard Barwell, University of Ottawa 3-Read Protocol, San Francisco Unified School District Mathematics Department 21

Thank You! 22 Documents from Math BILs sessions can be downloaded from: bit.ly/208HPXQ And thank you in advance for your feedback! SURVEY LINK