Writing! Pages 30-33 Writing in Math

Innovative teachers can make writing an invaluable part of math instruction. One reason I chose mathematics for my undergraduate major was that it didn't require papers. Math homework called for solving problems or proving theorems, and that was just fine with me. Math and writing, like oil and water, seemed to have little in common. And for my first 20 years as a middle school and elementary school teacher, writing played no role in my math teaching. Today, my view has changed completely. I can no longer imagine teaching math without making writing an integral aspect of students ' learning. This transition occurred over a period of years as I gradually overcame my own writing phobia. After writing children's books, professional books, and numerous articles, I've faced my writing dragon. I've even come to appreciate writing as a tool for clarifying my thinking. As Zinsser says, “Writing is a way to work yourself into a subject and make it your own ” (1988, p. 16). But the results I experienced with students were what clinched my commitment to making writing a regular part of math instruction. Not only did I see how writing helped students think more deeply and clearly about mathematics, but I also discovered that students ' writing was an invaluable tool to help me assess their learning. Writing in math class supports learning because it requires students to organize, clarify, and reflect on their ideas—all useful processes for making sense of mathematics. In addition, when students write, their papers provide a window into their understandings, their misconceptions, and their feelings about the content they're learning. Of course, the writing that students do in math class generally differs from the writing they do in other subjects, such as language arts or social studies. Writing in math class isn't meant to produce a product suitable for publication, but rather to provide a way for students to reflect on their own learning and to explore, extend, and cement their ideas about the mathematics they study. Aside from the students themselves, I consider myself the primary audience for my students ' writing, and I pay attention to what that writing shows about their math understanding—what they write, not how they write it