USING THE LANGUAGE TO INCREASE DEEPER MATHEMATICAL MEANING AND UNDERSTANDING Armando M. Martinez-Cruz CSU Fullerton Karen Delaney TASEL-M Math Coach at Buena Park HS Presented at CMC South Palm Springs, CA Nov. 5, 2005 TASELM website:

Outline of the Presentation Introduction and Welcome Math problem in a small group Teacher experiences Math graffiti Sentence strips Vocabulary worksheet Questions and Conclusions

Small group work: A man buys 3-cent stamps and 6 [cent] stamps, 120 in all. He pays for them with a $5.00 bill and receives 75 cents in change. Does he receive the correct change? A) Would 76 cents change be correct? Would 74 cents change be correct? (Posamentier & Salkind, 1996, 3-14)

Directions Create a group of 4 from different teaching levels Introduce yourself to your group Read the problem Read the problem again and underline key vocabulary words Have each group member share the definition and an example of an underlined word (If you can’t define a word, ask your group for help) Paraphrase what the problem is asking Solve the problem by at least two methods Present solutions

Teacher Experiences: Jigsaw to use students as experts Accountability for each other Multiple approaches to the same problem to reach all students

Math Graffiti Clues to help students remember the meaning of the word or symbol Examples from teachers Select a word from Algebra or Geometry and create a visual to represent the word Student participation

C reater than The solution includes all the numbers larger than 2

ess than The solution includes all the numbers less than 4

ero Slope Horizontal lines have zero slope

Sentence Strips From words to mathematics An activity with strips Example: Four times the sum of a number and one is five. Four times a number plus one is five.

Your turn: The sum of two numbers is twenty. The difference of the same two numbers is four. Find the two numbers.

Vocabulary worksheet Pass out handout and illustrate Example: Equivalent

Questions and Conclusions