by Josh Rappaport
Writing and math. When I was a student, those concepts were about as close as the north and south poles. But times have changed, and this month I'd like to offer a suggestion that forges connections between writing and math in your children's minds.
The idea is simply that as children do math, they keep a journal. The journal gives children an opportunity to record all sorts of ideas related to math: questions, puzzles, explorations, musings ...
I plan to return to the idea of the math journal a number of times this year, but for this month, I'll just describe just one way you might start your children/students off and running with this kind of journaling.
The idea is that at the end of any lesson or study session, you tell your children that they have some time to write in their math journals. Have them think about the concepts they've been working on, and simply ask them to write down as many questions as they can. You can expect to see questions like:
— When you're adding fractions with different denominators, why don't we just add the denominators, just as we add the numerators?
— When would I ever need to round off a number, anyhow?
— Who invented exponents? And why?
Just as brainstorming has an important rule — no editing the thoughts that come up — this phase of math journaling has a similar rule — no editing the questions that arise.
Encourage students to ask any question about the concepts or about math as a whole that pop into their minds.
The next day, you might ask each child to star one of her questions, and that can be a starting point for an interesting conversation.
One caveat: I've found that when I do this with a group of children, they start expecting me to answer the questions. The secret to this lesson is to resist the temptation to answer. Just say something like, "Good question." As you allow the questions to come bubbling up, you'll notice an excitement building. Allow that, and resist the feeling that you have to answer every question. It can be ok to leave some questions as topics to be pondered.
This in itself is a lesson, a lesson that questions about math are good to pose. What's more, this is a lesson that you can repeat over and over, now that you have created a safe place for your children's questions in the math journal.
Josh Rappaport lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico, along with his wife and two teenage children. Josh is the author of the Algebra Survival Guide, and the companion Algebra Survival Guide Workbook, both of which will soon be available for homeschoolers as a computer-based Learning Management System, developed and run by Sleek Corp., of Austin, TX.
Writing and math. When I was a student, those concepts were about as close as the north and south poles. But times have changed, and this month I'd like to offer a suggestion that forges connections between writing and math in your children's minds.
The idea is simply that as children do math, they keep a journal. The journal gives children an opportunity to record all sorts of ideas related to math: questions, puzzles, explorations, musings ...
I plan to return to the idea of the math journal a number of times this year, but for this month, I'll just describe just one way you might start your children/students off and running with this kind of journaling.
The idea is that at the end of any lesson or study session, you tell your children that they have some time to write in their math journals. Have them think about the concepts they've been working on, and simply ask them to write down as many questions as they can. You can expect to see questions like:
— When you're adding fractions with different denominators, why don't we just add the denominators, just as we add the numerators?
— When would I ever need to round off a number, anyhow?
— Who invented exponents? And why?
Just as brainstorming has an important rule — no editing the thoughts that come up — this phase of math journaling has a similar rule — no editing the questions that arise.
Encourage students to ask any question about the concepts or about math as a whole that pop into their minds.
The next day, you might ask each child to star one of her questions, and that can be a starting point for an interesting conversation.
One caveat: I've found that when I do this with a group of children, they start expecting me to answer the questions. The secret to this lesson is to resist the temptation to answer. Just say something like, "Good question." As you allow the questions to come bubbling up, you'll notice an excitement building. Allow that, and resist the feeling that you have to answer every question. It can be ok to leave some questions as topics to be pondered.
This in itself is a lesson, a lesson that questions about math are good to pose. What's more, this is a lesson that you can repeat over and over, now that you have created a safe place for your children's questions in the math journal.
Josh Rappaport lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico, along with his wife and two teenage children. Josh is the author of the Algebra Survival Guide, and the companion Algebra Survival Guide Workbook, both of which will soon be available for homeschoolers as a computer-based Learning Management System, developed and run by Sleek Corp., of Austin, TX.
At his blog, Josh writes about math education, offering tips and tricks. Josh also authors Turtle Talk, a free monthly newsletter with an engaging "Problem of the Month." You can see a sample issue here or subscribe at this site. Josh also is co-author of the "learn-by-playing" Card Game Roundup books, and author of PreAlgebra Blastoff!, a "Sci-Fi" cartoon math book featuring a playful, hands-on approach to positive and negative numbers.
In the summer Josh leads workshops at homeschooling conferences and tutors homeschoolers nationwide using SKYPE. Contact Josh by email @ josh@SingingTurtle.com or follow him on Facebook, where he poses two fun math Qs/day.
