Reading in Math Class

Why is Reading in Math So Difficult? Besides using the same skills as reading in other content areas, students must use additional, content-specific reading skills to understand a math text. Students must be able to: read from left to right read from right to left (e.g. number lines) read from top to bottom or vice versa (e.g. tables) read diagonally (e.g. graphs)

Math texts contain more concepts per page than any other type of text. Math concepts are often abstract, which makes it difficult for students to visualize their meaning. Students must be proficient at decoding numeric and nonnumeric symbols as well as words.

Authors of math texts generally write in very brief, concise styles: - lots of information in each sentence - little redundancy - If students read math texts too quickly (like they might a text from another class), they may miss significant details, explanations, and the fundamental logic. The page layout may hinder comprehension. When students scan text looking for examples, they may skip worded passages which contain essential information.

Many math textbooks are written above the grade-level for which they are used. The vocabulary and sentence structure are often very difficult for the students using them.

K-N-W-S K N W S What information do I NOT need? What facts do I KNOW from the information in the problem? N What information do I NOT need? W WHAT does the problem ask me to find? S What STRATEGY/ operation/tools will I use to solve the problem?

Example Problems The tail of a kite steadies the kite in the air. One of the longest kites is a Chinese dragon kite. The length of one particular dragon kite, including the tail, is 21 ft. If the tail is 15 ft. longer than the kite body, how long is the kite body? You and your cousin decide to go on a biking trip on a three-day weekend. You bike 32 miles in two days. On the second day, you biked 9 miles more than you did on the first day. How many miles did you bike each day? Amanda and Jessica went shopping at the mall. They decided to only shop at stores that were having a sale. At one of the sales, shirts were marked down $4. You bought 3 shirts. A sales tax of $2 was added to your bill, bringing the total cost to $50. Find the price of the shirts before the sale.

K-N-W-S The whole kite is 21 ft. long What facts do I KNOW from the information in the problem? N What information do I NOT need? W WHAT does the problem ask me to find? S What STRATEGY/ operation/tools will I use to solve the problem? The whole kite is 21 ft. long The tail is 15 ft. longer than the body Tail of kite steadies kite in air Longest kite is Chinese dragon kite How long is the body of the kite? Subtract 15 ft. from 21 ft.

K-N-W-S Biked 32 miles in two day What facts do I KNOW from the information in the problem? N What information do I NOT need? W WHAT does the problem ask me to find? S What STRATEGY/ operation/tools will I use to solve the problem? Biked 32 miles in two day Biked 9 miles more on the second day than on the first day You and cousin 3-day weekend How many miles did we bike each day?

K-N-W-S Shirts marked down $4 Bought 3 shirts Sales tax $2 What facts do I KNOW from the information in the problem? N What information do I NOT need? W WHAT does the problem ask me to find? S What STRATEGY/ operation/tools will I use to solve the problem? Shirts marked down $4 Bought 3 shirts Sales tax $2 Total was $50 Went to mall Only shopped sales How much did shirts cost before the sale? Subtract sales tax and divide by 3 to find cost of each shirt. Then add $4 per shirt.

Definition Chart WORD ____________ Facts/Characteristics Definition (in own words) WORD ____________ Examples Non-Examples