How to get students writing in maths: graphic organisers
By KELLIE
Writing in maths has many benefits for both teachers and students. Writing allows students to organise their ideas, clarify and reflect on their learning. For teachers, it provides valuable insights through formative assessment. However, thinking of ways to incorporate purposeful writing in mathematics can be stressful.
There’s no need to worry! In this blog you will see it can be as simple as thinking differently about some of the graphic organisers and scaffolds you already use, and creating some simple tables.
When it comes to helping students organise their ideas, simple scaffolds and tables are your best friends!
Simple scaffolds and graphic organisers can help students to:
- organise their mathematical thinking,
- summarise new learning, and
- make connections to prior knowledge and understanding.
Use tables or column-notes
You can easily create a column note, or table, for any purpose in Word. (Not sure how to do this? Here’s a quick tutorial.)
In this example, students use the table to make connections between their new learning and what they already know. Personal connections are examples of how they apply this knowledge in real life.
Be creative with graphic organisers you already use
Another idea is to re-purpose familiar graphic organisers and use them in different ways.
Even scaffolds we usually use for teaching vocabulary and word study can be modified to support teaching in maths.
Frayer models are easily adapted to provide an effective way for students to organise their thinking about mathematical concepts.
Here’s a simple way for students to compare and contrast in mathematics.
Using a Venn diagram as a scaffold, students arrange and classify the characteristics of common shapes and summarise their similarities and differences.
After students have organised their thoughts, ensure they use their notes to compose a summary or an explanation of their new understanding.
“Squares and rectangles have a lot in common and look a bit alike. They are both closed shapes. They both have four sides, and four right-angled corners. Squares have four sides that are all the same length. But rectangles have 2 sides that are the same, and the other 2 sides are also the same length. I think a square is a special type of rectangle.” (Immy, grade 4.)
Encourage visual representations of learning
Always encourage students to describe and explain their connections through words, numbers and diagrams. Allow students time to gather their thoughts before sharing with others.
“Drawing is not just a way to make their thoughts about mathematics visible to others; it is a device to capture the language of mathematics in order to make it visible to themselves.” (Tuttle, 2005).
You can download blank copies of the graphic organisers we used as our examples here. We’ve prettied them up and included another example.
More ideas to get your students writing in maths...
Keen to share how you incorporate writing into your maths instruction? We’d love you to come join us in The Lounge!
“The Lounge” is Quality Writing Instruction’s Facebook group, where you can share ideas and get support from a fabulous group of like-minded teachers.
References:
Tuttle, C.L., (2005). Writing in the mathematics classroom. In J.M. Kenny (Ed.), Literacy strategies for improving mathematics instruction (pp. 24-50).