Language of MathUsing the Language of Content to increase confidence and competence.

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Language Objectives

• I can discuss Language of Math strategies that would benefit my students, with my colleagues.

• I can role play math scenarios with a partner or small group.

3Two Crucial Points

• I’m trying to learn as much as I’m trying to teach, today.

• We find ourselves in co-teaching situations increasingly often. These are ELL strategies, but they’re good for ALL students.

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A quick note about GTN.

5My Research

Steven Leinwand-

Accessible Mathematics: 10 Instructional Shifts that Raise Student Achievement

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Why I enjoy teaching math to ELLs/ALLs.

• Allows them to feel successful in a core subject, which has several benefits.

• Many of them really enjoy math.• The “Language of Math” is ostensibly 20% of our

curriculum, yet it’s often the most neglected strand.• It’s a necessary 21st century skill.

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The Ten Instructional Shifts

• Incorporate ongoing cumulative review into every day's lesson.

• Adapt what we know works in our reading programs, and apply it to mathematics instruction.

• Use multiple representations of mathematical entities.

• Create language rich classroom routines.

• Take every available opportunity to support the development of number sense.

• Build from graphs, charts, and tables.

• Increase the natural use of measurement throughout the curriculum

• Minimize what is no longer important.

• Embed the mathematics in real world problems and contexts.

• Make "Why?", "How Do You Know?", and "Can You Explain" classroom mantras.

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A Quick Note on Academic Vocabulary

Math has examples of all three tiers, all the time.

There are tons of strategies to teach vocabulary. The best strategy is just making sure the kids have ample opportunity to use the vocabulary- to speak it and write it- in context.

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Tiered Math Vocabulary

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Exc-ELL with Language of Math

11Discuss!

• Do the “instructional shifts” remind you of strategies you’re already using (in math or other subjects)?

• Are there any that interest you/that you’d like to know about (for math and/or other subjects)?

• Do you teach any Language of Math now? If so, how do you feel it’s going? If not, is it something you’re interested in? Why?

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Find the area and perimeter of this rectangle. Try to use the following words with your partner or your imaginary friend! (me hearing you use all the words correctly is way more important than the right answers!):

• add• multiply• area• perimeter• adjacent• opposite• missing• equivalent• total• sides

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Pretend you're teaching a 4th Grader how to solve the equation above. Make sure you use the following words (if you don’t think the imaginary 4th grader knows what the words mean, teach them!)

1/4 ÷ 1/6 =

• convert

• invert

• inverse operation

• improper

• mixed number

• simplify

• equivalent

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Write how to solve for the missing number in the math mountain. Your answer is not correct unless you use at least four of these words in sentences!

• total

• partner

• biggest

• smaller

• subtract

• add

• missing

15“Talk To Yourself”

In addition to using LOM strategies to teach key vocabulary, you can also use productive language to help students reinforce difficult or multi-step processes, such as addition with regrouping, subtraction with ungrouping, long division, adding/subtracting fractions, choosing the correct operation, etc.

16Role Play

11,654

- 9,782

At your table, talk yourself through solving the equation to the right. Be sure to check your answer by using the inverse operation. Make sure you're saying something for every little step you take!

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Some Quick Additional Thoughts

• do not be afraid of letting students speak in Spanish. If kids have a chance to discuss concepts in their first language, that's INCREDIBLY valuable.

• a student who is focused while speaking Spanish looks exactly like a student who is focused while speaking English.

• we need to be less focused on our students finding the right answer, and more focused on how well they understand processes.

• a wrong answer can be valuable, and teachable. In guided reading, right or wrong, we ask students to explain their thinking. We need to bring that same mentality to math instruction.

• homework should be about quality, not quantity. Hannah!

• Assessments and assignments should include items that try to identify where students' gaps are. Our students have a LOT of gaps. Instead of "they can't do it", try to examine what skills are needed to complete a task, and pinpoint why they can't answer a question correctly. (show student work here)

18How It’s Going

• Scale score growth from the BOY Benchmark to our most recent Benchmark was, on average, 30 points higher than the rest of 5th grade.

• Data also suggests that this is an effective method for teaching fractions, in particular.

• Difficult to compare LEP students across 5th Grade, since almost all LEP students are in this math class.

• Early responses from student interviews are encouraging; students seem to have enjoyed learning this way, and report feeling more confident.

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Thanks for listening!