This week's readings on reading strategies were very interesting! As I read each of these chapters, I tried to think of ways to incorporate these strategies in my mathematics classroom. I believe that one of the most challenging factors for my students is understanding mathematical vocabulary. For example, if I ask a student to find the domain of a function, they may look at me like I'm crazy. But if I asked that same students to list all of the x-values of the function (same question, different wording), they could probably tell me. It is so important for students to understand vocabulary in math. I really liked the idea of creating a vocabulary tree so that they can see the relationship between mathematical vocabulary words. For example, students could see that domain, independent variable, and x-values are related to one another, while range, dependent variable, and y-values are also a set of related terms.
Chapter 6 of Daniels & Zemelman stated that math textbooks are "typically the hardest to read" (154). I would have to agree with this statement. Students are used to textbooks with a certain language flow such as novels for an English class, passages from a history textbook, or even passages from a science textbook. However, mathematics textbooks are different altogether. These textbooks not only present new vocabulary words, but they are also made up of mostly mathematical examples, which may not make sense to students. It is important to teach students how to read a mathematics textbook. I really liked the idea of using the Guide-O-Rama study guide to help students understand the textbook! This would enable students to see what information is most important and will help guide them through the textbook.
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