Reference the Instructional Routines summary from Part 4 and think specifically about the Math Language Routines. Then read the Advancing Mathematical Language summary which discusses the Math Language Routines in more detail. Finally, choose a couple short videos to watch from the Math Language Routine Playlist. Although she is using middle school content, the routines are usable (and powerful!) at the elementary level. Plus she's entertaining!
Consider
- What are your thoughts about incorporating math language routines into your math time?
- What caused you to pause and think?
- What math experiences from your own classroom came to mind as you were watching and reading?
Respond and Interact
After reading and watching, please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
After reading and watching, please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
I strive for 100 percent of participation 100 percent of the time, so I LOVE the idea of the instructional routines. Kids will be engaged in the fun of mathematics! I'm particularly excited with the warm up routines and how they are designed to elicit discussion, build content vocabulary, and reinforce/extend mathematical understanding.
ReplyDeleteAgain, not so different from what is critical skill development in ELA.
I watched the math language routine #1 Info Gap and am so curious to see how these will play out with third graders and our content. Are these Info Gap problem solving tasks already embedded within the IM program or is this something that my team and I will develop by unit?
Hi Shel! When the Info Gap routine is recommended in a lesson, there are cards that are provided for that lesson. We have/will order them from print shop.
DeleteYes! I am so excited about the cards. Renae, do you know if they were a success last year for the teachers who got to try this new math last year? I am just kind of curious. I love the concept but it would also have been nice to see something more at a elementary level. Is there someone that can show us this or record themselves? I really loved this.
Delete@Judy - I'm not sure if anyone recorded themself doing the math language routine or not. I know that Ian recorded quite a few IM lessons last year. Let's ask him if he captured any....
DeleteThanks Renae!
DeleteI am thankful for the fact that it says the Instructional Routines have a predictable structure and flow as well as how they invite students to bring their personal experiences to the problem, and growing each child’s voice through questioning, justifying, and critiquing. The Mathematical Language Routines will be great for each and every student no matter their culturally diverse background or their academic levels. Of the MLRs, I like MLR2 Collect and Display as well as MLR 7 Compare and Connect. The video of MLR2 Collect and Display explains that the teacher shares the problem with the whole class, gives the students 5 minutes of think time alone, then has them turn and talk with a partner, and finally share out whole group. I feel like I used these two, MLR2 and MLR7, for many of the problem solvers we have done throughout 2nd grade. It will be interesting to see how these two are used in IM and if what I am reading and picking up from their description is what I believe I did this year with my students. It would be nice to see all the MLRs in action with primary videos if ever possible.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the math language routines playlist. I watched about 5 videos and I loved them (she is super funny and I would have loved her as a middle school math teacher) and found them very interesting and something that I really could see the kids really enjoying and being super engaged. I am hoping that all this info is in the IM so we do not have to do that much creating anything at all. I enjoyed the videos when the kids got to participate and so seeing it in action helped me the best. I am totally a visual learner.
ReplyDeleteI love watching other teachers teach, I watched many different videos. I utilized the MLR4 - 3 reads last year a lot and shared with my teammates about it. Just getting kids to slow down and think about what is happening and not rush to solve it.
ReplyDeleteMy students (third grade) also enjoyed the Informational Gap language routine. Whenever this routine was used it was well laid out in the lesson plan, not something extra. My kids did struggle sometimes answering the question why they needed to know that information, but with practice it got better. Sometimes they had to tell their partner, "I don't have that information."
Overall I would say the routines were well laid out in the IM lessons.
The first part of the reading reminding me of the different layers of language: reading, writing, speaking, listening, and conversing. I am excited that many of the math routines focus on conversing. I've used this in my classroom during math talks where students tell me their thinking, and I write it on the board asking clarifying questions along the way to make sure I'm capturing their work. This is also used when students are playing games or checking each other's work and they have different answers. They will talk to each other to try and explain their mathematical thinking.
ReplyDeleteWhile I've used these strategies, plus a few more, in my classroom to facilitate conversing, I am very excited to see the multiple different methods of math language routines presented in print and videos. They are so varied and go well beyond what I've been doing. My question is will these specific strategies be laid out in specific lessons, or will I need to remember them and find the best use of them?
You will see them within the lessons Jen - it's pretty laid out for you in the teacher notes. Yay for that!
DeleteTeaching math as a language is my thing. It really is like a foreign language to so many of my students. You can’t actively participate in a subject when you don’t have any idea what it’s talking about. Let alone read it, demonstrate it and have conversations about it. So I break it down and talk to them like they are learning this very special language and we can do it math. They are so cute and excited and it also levels the playing field for my ELL students. We are all learning and becoming fluent. And I use a lot of praise as we learn to speak Math.
ReplyDeleteI love that this is identified and worked on specifically in almost all units. I can see how we could use this in our group time and as a turn and talk activity. Vocabulary is everything. Once they speak it they can do all the reading, writing, speaking, listening,sharing and demonstrating with a measure of confidence.
As for the videos I watched a couple of them. I love her. She is so amazing as a 6th grade teacher the way she uses the strategies really shows their effectiveness and the fun that kids can have in learning the language of math.
That playlist really helped bring these language routines to life for me. These routines are embedded into so many of the Illustrative Math lessons - I think it would be appropriate to show some of these short videos prior to teaching one of the routines to help support kids in what they look and sound like. So good!
ReplyDeleteWow, Thank you for the link to the MLR videos - those were great. I watched 4 so far and will go back and watch more as we approach the school year. After reading over the MLR from post #4 I went back to unit 1 teacher guide to see how they are imbedded/scaffolded in the lessons. 9 of the first 10 lessons use MLR8 in the teaching notes to help teachers start building the mathematical language right from the first lesson. Last year, my students loved the Information gap problems - I too posted the information cards around the room and they had to find the missing data. This was not always successful - some groups used incorrect data, but I did like the opportunity for the kids to move, evaluate the information and see if it went with their problem. I want to be more transparent this year as my students WRITE their thinking, it was definitely the most difficult part of the math language last year. I will be showing many more examples of students written explanations and solicit ways to collectively work to make their explanations stronger.
ReplyDeleteWatching the videos in the playlist really helped get me excited to come back to teach IM this year. I am so glad that the manuals really lay out how to use the structures in the teaching notes.
ReplyDeleteI liked using 3 reads last year a lot. It really helped with getting the kids to slow down. The students had to be diligent to think about what is happening in the problems using this. It also helped them not to rush to solve it.
I don't think i did a good job with the information gap problems last year and want to make it a goal this year. I didn't love those because they were too 'open' and i REALLY wanted to guide them! Knowing the structure of the lessons, units, and strategies will help me 'let go' more this year to do a better job of facilitating their learning.
I really connected with the 3 read strategy as well. I thought the same thing about getting students to slow down and think before they act to try to solve the problem.
DeleteThe Youtube playlist is awesome! I really appreciate all of the information being passed along to help ease the transition to the new curriculum. Giving students the opportunity to learn and grow through their own exploration, struggles and discussions creates a strong classroom environment while also allowing students to understand the power they have when they work through the struggle. Using Notice and Wonder to help drive those natural discussions students will have is something I look forward to using frequently this year. Having the ability to use a lot of these tools across all subject areas allows students to be more comfortable with the expectations in the classroom. I look forward to exploring all of these resources with my students this year.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to the warm up routines, the math language routines that are embedded in the IM curriculum are so valuable. I love their predictability as it allows for the lesson to run more smoothly and improves the pacing. As students (and the teacher) become more familiar with them, the math component of the lesson can become the focal point rather than the routine itself. One of the routines that was used frequently in my 2nd grade classroom was the Card Sort. Once we all got the hang of it, it was a great routine to encourage students to analyze, make connections, and draw conclusions collaboratively. They became much more precise in their ability to communicate mathematically. The Three Reads was also a powerful routine as students had to follow a process for making sense of a problem and plan their strategies before jumping in and solving it. I've found that it has always been a challenge to slow students down and have them really think about what the problem is asking them. I found myself reflecting on the Collect and Display routine. After reading more about it, I can definitely see its value and I plan to be more intentional with this routine this next year. I found the Compare and Connect routine really powerful and it was a routine that was used often. After solving a problem themselves, students would partner up and investigate and analyze a classmate's work. They became very good at articulating not only their own thinking, but the thinking of their partner. I would oftentimes make these random partnerships so they were exposed to a variety of peer thinking.
ReplyDeleteI loved watching the videos to see what some of the same routines that I used in 2nd grade looked like at a middle school level. I thought it was powerful that she explained to her students how a particular routine would help build their math skills. I was left thinking how great the mathematical outcome would be if students had been using many of these same routines since early elementary school!
I really like the idea of having embedded math language routines. The routines are predictable and familiar to students since they are used across grade levels. Students will become familiar with the routines and the focus of the lesson will be on the language/vocabulary instead of learning the routines. The opening paragraphs stated, "The linguistic demands of doing mathematics include reading, writing, speaking, listening and representing." This one sentence makes me think of the LETRs training I took this summer and the number of exposures and how many times students need to use new vocabulary. Having embedded routines that support students in engaging with new vocabulary will support them with truly understanding the meaning.
ReplyDeleteThe playlist is fantastic! I will definitely refer back to it as the routines come up in the curriculum.
The videos were helpful to see how a teacher goes about teaching the different Mathematical Language Routines. Her students were so good at talking to one another and explaining their thinking of math. I ended up watching them all to try to visualize how I would use them in my classroom. The readings were helpful too. I appreciated reading the responses from the teachers who taught the IM math program last year. Their bits of wisdom on how they taught things in the math program were very helpful. Thank you. I was also pleased to hear from Renae that the IM math has these things embedded in the lessons throughout the year. Super!
ReplyDeleteI really like the collect and display routine. Last year, I started strong with this strategy but as the year went on, I tended to write less and less or record thinking during that moment on the white board and erase. Posters around the room might be the access point that some students need to find a starting point if they are stuck. When students ask stop thinking questions, I could refer them to the poster with our class thinking on it. I think the most important part of these posters would be the variety of diagrams students might use. It also reinforces the idea of flexible thinking. Another great math language routine is Co-crafted questions. In 2nd grade this is more verbal in the beginning of the year. My students sometimes struggled with making mathematical statement during the warm-up when they were sharing their notice and wonderings. I think focusing on math related questioning will help strengthen their ability to focus their discussions, instead of I notice it is blue or I wonder why they used birds instead of flowers.
ReplyDeleteUh oh, I kinda skipped ahead on the last one. I mentioned the information gap as a strategy that I was interested in. The language development associated with this strategy seems like it would be wonderful for math time. One of the video's shows this happening. I think it would be really challenging for 3rd graders at first, but the structure presented seems like a great tool for students to follow. I also think this allows everyone to engage in a meaningful way but could be differentiated so well. Also, pairing students in a way to support each other would be important but could also help students so much. I think this would be a great strategy to model as a fishbowl with easy concepts and practice with guidance. Once students have the idea of the procedure, they could work through the steps more easily. Seeing it modeled in the video is so helpful.
ReplyDeleteI am really looking forward to doing Stronger and Clearer with my students. When asked to write their thinking many said they didn't know what to write. I noticed last year that they need to incorporate more math vocabulary and explanations/examples. Sentence frames and rephrasing language orally will be important scaffolds.
ReplyDeleteInformation Gap sounds fun! I think my students would enjoy figuring out the puzzle of what they need to ask. After watching the video, it seems as if only 1 person solves the problem?
I have done Co-crafted questions before with 3 act tasks. :)
I value the consistency these mathematical language routines provide, especially as students (and teachers) engage in a new curriculum! One routine that was especially helpful in 2nd grade was “Three Reads,” it really caused kids to stop and think to make sense of a story problem before jumping in and solving it. It truly sets students up for success, helping them to break down and comprehend each problem. Sentence frames were also very critical to student success last year. They provided the guidance in written responses, whole class, and partner discussions that allowed students to be independent in their math discourse. Another necessary support was vocabulary. Again, with IM being a new curriculum some of the academic language is unfamiliar for most students. Within these language routines I needed to be more intentional about teaching and incorporating precise language for all students, not just English Language Learners.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to using these routines to give students different chances to share their thoughts and questions about the problems. I watched a few of the videos and I appreciated that she made another video about the changed information gap that she revised because I thought this routine was interesting. I like the idea of having students move around when they look for different data information. I know this approach should be used after they get used to the routine with the original plan. I hope that the students who were in the pilot class last year will volunteer when I show the routines to the class based on the ones they did.