Reading shouldn’t be done in isolation from the other core subjects like mathematics. In fact, reading and writing are much more fun when integrated with the other subjects.
As a teacher it is your responsibility to share the burden of teaching students how to read and how to read concept heavy math and science textbooks.
A high school Chemistry textbook can include 3,ooo new vocabulary words which your students need assistance in reading and understanding.
12 Ways to Integrate Reading and Writing into Mathematics
I hope these suggestions spark your own ideas to integrate reading and writing into your math standards and vice versa.
1. Preteach Vocabulary that will appear in charts, graphs, or word problems for an upcoming lesson.
2. Teaching Prefixes that appear in the metric system and other measurements.
3. Oral Reading of instructions or word problems.
4. Writing Word Problems in a small group. Have a small group of students create and write the answers to a word problem to share with other groups. In time they will create a growing collection of word problems for a word problem lab or center.
5. Have the students create a PowerPoint or Slide Share presentation over a mathematical concept.
6. Silent Reading over the history of a famous mathematician.
7. Write out the explanations of a math problem.
8. Create a “How To” guide on how to solve a certain type of math problem.
9. Create Anticipation Guides for each lesson to provide motivation and incorporate reading into your math lesson.
10. Use Webbing to introduce a lesson or concept, urging students to use their prior knowledge to fill in the web.
11. Maintain a class blog highlighting new concepts, ideas, and lessons learned from math and science courses.
12. Write in a journal at the end of each class period about what thoughts, feelings, questions, and concepts learned during the day.
Integrating reading and writing into math and science courses can be seamlessly done with just a small amount of planning and preparation.
If you are a teacher, how do you incorporate reading and writing into math or science courses?
Email This Post
