Boost Student Math Literacy with These 6 Strategies

Reading and writing in math class engages and empowers students. It also strengthens reasoning and critical thinking skills and gives you great insight into students’ lives. All this can help students become better math learners.  

Look, if you’re still not doing it, I get it. On top of your other responsibilities, it might just feel like too much to start planning for in-class writing sessions. Teaching literacy in your math class really is worth it, though. Your students will build skills, confidence, and community.

Here are six fun ways to get your students reading, writing, and talking to one another.   

Six strategies to boost literacy in your math class

1. Incorporate Reading and Writing Into Every Class 

It’s fine to start small. When reading, chunk the text into manageable sections, especially with complex word problems. Writing assignments should be frequent and low-stakes.

Write with your students, and encourage them to share what they’ve written. You can even share once in a while to show that you’re also committed to growing as a writer and a thinker. 

2. Have Students Write Reflectively at the End of Each Week 

A sample prompt could be something as simple as,“write about two things you learned this week in math class." Another could be, “write about a time you used something you learned in math class in your daily life.” Through reflective writing, students build literacy skills and develop more ownership of their mathematical understanding. Practicing this kind of self-reflection will help them become more agile and independent learners.  

3. Have Fun Rewriting Word Problems 

Guiding students in rewriting word problems can personalize the problem and make it more relevant to their lives. To do this well, students must engage deeply with the math so they can successfully place the numbers in a different context.    

4. Facilitate Discussion 

Help students build oral literacy and critical thinking by discussing the method they used to solve a problem. They’ll need to justify their approach and ask each other questions, which requires deep mathematical engagement. As a result, we build discourse into every facet of the learning experience in our MATHbook mathematics solution. With MATHbook, discussions are the vehicles through which learning happens, rather than just tacked on as an afterthought.      

5. Build Vocabulary 

Building vocabulary through discussion is way more fun (and more effective) than memorizing lists of words. Learning integrated vocab lets students practice using context to determine meaning. This is good for all students, but particularly for English language learners. 

For example, my ninth-grade class of mostly ELL students once encountered a problem that referred to a "congested" highway. After discussing all possible meanings of the word, we had a good laugh picturing a coughing, sneezing highway and then moved on. My students not only solved the problem but they practiced analyzing definitions and choosing the most plausible.   

6. Close Reading: It’s Not Just for Poems 

You’ve probably heard your colleagues in ELA talk about “close reading” or “multiple read strategy.” Close reading involves focusing on different details each time a passage is reread to fully understand the text.

This strategy for math reading looks like this: 

1. First Read: Notice and Wonder. Ask students what they noticed and what they’re still wondering.
2. Second Read: Organize and Mathematize. Ask students which data is important and how it relates mathematically.
3. Third Read: Analyze and Interpret. Ask students what conclusions they can draw from the problem and what those conclusions mean in the given context.
    

Close reading math problems may take some time to get the hang of, but it eventually helps students feel less overwhelmed by word problems. It also helps students learn to slow down and take in information deliberately and systematically. This can be super helpful in their other classes across disciplines.   

Looking for more resources? 

Are you ready to bring more reading, writing, and discussion into your math class? We’re here to help.

• Download our guide, When Literacy and Mathematics Collide: Supporting Reading in Your Math Class. This guide offers a sample of classroom activities that you can use to build literacy skills in your classroom.
• Watch our webinar, Utilizing Literacy Strategies to Build Equitable Access in Math Class. 
• Check out our blended core math solution for middle school and high school. It includes MATHbook, which provides a literacy feature called "Language Links." These point-of-use suggestions help students clarify academic and contextual terms.  

Math class is a place where great things happen. Ideas are shared, misconceptions are righted, and confidence grows. Why not give your students even more ways to excel by including literacy in your teaching practice?