Final Synthesis Blog

Importance of Math Literacy

Before this class, I struggled with the idea of teaching reading strategies in my future math classroom. However, because of the textbook, class discussions, outside assignments and further study, I now have a better idea of how to implement math literacy into my classroom on a regular basis.

Over the course of the semester, I have watched several videos on my own about the idea of math literacy because it is something I have grown increasingly interested in. This is one I have found that explains an overview of content area literacy, as well as breaks down the definition in the context of math. It focuses on the importance of knowing how to communicate math concepts clearly. In a scholarly journal article we read in class entitled “Teachers and content area reading: Attitudes, beliefs and change,” the issue of math literacy being neglected in content area literacy coursework is discussed. Hall (2005) states that participants in this study “believed that this led to them not learning techniques for improving their students’ reading comprehension in this area” (p. 410-411). However, this video, as well as many specialized class activities for math content area learners like myself, have provided me with some techniques and strategies I can use in my future math classroom. 

One of those techniques is teaching my students the pre, during, and post reading strategies for any text in any content area that are provided in the textbook. All of these strategies that are helpful for the different stages or reading come from the thinking strategies of effective readers.

Helpful techniques for the before reading stage are: set purpose for reading, activate prior knowledge, develop questions, and make predictions. Helpful techniques for the during reading stage are: sample the text, visualize, hypothesize, confirm/alter predictions,and monitor comprehension. Helpful techniques for the after reading stage are recall/retell, evaluate, discuss, reread, apply, and read more. These thinking strategies should be taught for each stage of the reading process to help students become more effective readers in all subject areas. 

We practiced using these strategies in many different ways throughout this course. We did it while reading articles in class, but we also applied these strategies while doing our think alouds and book clubs. Think alouds helped me take the perspective of a student who is learning how to use reading strategies while reading math texts because this process was new to me, and the process will be new to many of my students, as well. However, by following the guidelines of before, during, and after reading strategies, I was able to better comprehend word problems and math textbook chapters I chose to complete during the think aloud assignment.

By the middle of the semester, when we started our book clubs, we were all fairly proficient in using these strategies for every text we read. When it came around to doing our book clubs, I set a purpose for my reading and made predictions without even realizing I was doing so. As I was reading the book I am Malala, I was confirming those predictions and monitoring my comprehension of the text without even realizing it. After finishing the book, I was retelling my fellow book club members and friends what I took away from reading this book, and I realized this, too, was a reading strategy we had learned about. 

Throughout this process, I realized how second nature using these strategies can become when you use them frequently. I realized the ease of implementing these strategies into my daily reading life, even as a math-minded person and future math teacher. I look forward to having my own math class one day and telling them the joys of learning how to read in math, as well as teaching them how to become proficient readers in all subject areas, not only Language Arts. 

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