Using Writing In Mathematics

This strand provides a developmental model for incorporating writing into a math
class. The strand includes specific suggestions for managing journals,
developing prompts for writing, and providing students with feedback on their
writing. In addition, the site includes two sample lessons for introducing students
to important ideas related to writing about their mathematical thinking.

Materials

paper and pencil

overhead pens
overhead projector
calculators (optional)

Teaching Strategies For Incorporating Writing Into Math Class:

Moving From Open-Ended Questions To Math Concepts
Starting Out Gently with Affective, Open-Ended Prompts
Writing about thinking is challenging. For this reason, it's best not to start out having
students write about unfamiliar mathematical ideas. First get them used to writing
in a math class:

Begin with affective, open-ended questions about students' feelings.

Sample Direction #1: Reflect on your participation in class today

and complete the following statements:

I learned that I...
I was surprised that I...
I noticed that I...
I discovered that I...
I was pleased that I...
Sample Direction #2: Describe how you feel about solving _________
problem.

Have students write a "mathography"-a paragraph or so in which they

describe their feelings about and experiences in math, both in and out of school.
(This is a good tool to get to know students early in the year, and to make
comparisons later when looking for signs of progress.) (see Mathography
Prompts)

Find ways to keep students writing for the allotted time:

Encourage students to keep their pencils moving.

Try requiring 20 words per answer, even if they have to copy the same words again to
reach 20.

Use a timer. Ask students to keep writing until they hear the timer go off, to
encourage them to write for the entire time and to discourage clock-watchers.
Start by giving them two minutes to write, and work up to five or ten minutes at a
time.

Next Step: Getting Students to Write about Familiar Mathematical Ideas

1. Once your students have become accustomed to writing about their attitudes and
feelings toward mathematics in their journals, they are ready to write about
simple, familiar math concepts. It is important not to make the writing too difficult
by asking them to write about unfamiliar math ideas. Using writing to review
familiar math ideas will increase confidence and skill in writing as well as revisit
important math concepts.
Sample Directions:
Explain in your own words what subtraction means.
Explain what is most important to understand about fractions.

2. Use student writing samples to help them refine their writing. (Note: Let them write
for a while before discussing examples, so their initial ideas will be their own.)
3. Introduce the term metacognition to help students understand the reason and
audience for their writing.

Moving On: Writing About More Advanced Math Concepts

When you feel your students are ready, ask them to write about more complex
mathematical ideas, including concepts being taught at their current grade level.
To help you move your students into this more advanced level of writing about
their thinking. Here are some other suggestions to help you:
1. Encourage your students to use drawings and graphs to explain their thinking.

Research shows that using simple visual aids (diagrams, graphs, etc.)

improves mathematical problem-solving ability, especially in female students.

2. As student writing progresses, ask students to write about their small group work.

Ask the group to write a summary of how they reached a solution,

including any "false starts" or "dead ends."

Ask each individual to write an explanation of the group's work on a

problem. Have the small groups discuss the individual explanations.

After a small group assignment, have students "explain and illustrate two

different approaches to solving a problem."

Getting Started with Two Lesson Plans

Lesson Plan #1: "Metacognition"- Teaching Students to Think About Their Thinking
Overview: The purpose of this lesson is to help students begin to understand how to
communicate their thinking.
Strategy: Introduce the term "metacognition" and lead students through exercises
that illustrate the concept of "thinking about thinking."
Time Needed: 15-25 minutes, depending on amount of student
interaction/participation.
Materials Needed: Overhead projector, pens for overhead, writing journals
Procedure:
1. Introduce "metacognition" by writing it on the overhead and explaining what it
means. Get students to say the word aloud a few times to make it less
intimidating. Then you might tell a story about research in how the human brain
works.
2. Tell students that the more attention we pay to our thinking, the more we'll come to
understand about the process of thinking. Although we're used to just being
concerned about the results or the "answers," if we pay more attention to how we
think, it would help us to think more clearly, and improve the quality of our results.

3. As a non-threatening exercise to illustrate metacognition, ask students how they

decided what to wear that day. Ask three or four students to share their answers
out loud. Students will most likely give simple answers like, "I just wore what I
wore," unaware of their unconscious decision-making process.
4. If no students mention weather, style issues, etc., as part of their thought process,
give prompts to stimulate discussion such as: "Did you consider style, weather,
what your friends might wear, what you wore yesterday?" Ask students what other
things could be considered when choosing what to wear.
5. List their ideas on the overhead. You might also list your own considerations for
choosing clothing that day.
Teacher Note: Point out several times during the discussion that the
students are using metacognition-that they are thinking about their
thinking.

6. Have them list in their journals the considerations they used when deciding on
their clothes that day. Ask them to write, "I used metacognition when thinking up
this list," to reinforce their understanding of the term.
7. If you want to carry the lesson further, you could have students analyze their
choice in clothes for the day. Had they made the best choice? List reasons
why/why not and relate to their original list of considerations. Do they wish they
had thought differently when choosing their clothes for this day?
End Result of Lesson: Students will have a beginning concept to use
in their discussions/writings about their math answers; and you, as a
teacher, have the clothing example to return to many times as an
example of metacognition they can then apply to math.

Personal Narrative:
One Teacher's Experience with a Metacognition Lesson

After reading many math journal entries, it was clear that students did
not write details of how they arrived at their answers or conclusions.
Few wrote more than one or two general statements. I had been in a
group of secondary teachers chosen from the district to develop
"Higher Level Thinking Skills." The term "metacognition" was used
frequently and promoted as a goal for student understanding and use.
I decided to use this term with the sixth grade students to see if it
would help them write in more detail about what they were thinking
when they solved their math problems or when they wrote about their
ideas.
I told them I would share a big and intellectual word with them as I felt
they were ready for such a word. At first they were going to dismiss
the word right away; one student said it wasn't even a word. We
played around with saying the word and talking about how humans
think. I defined the word as "thinking about thinking."
I chose a common, everyday task that all of us participate in: choosing
what to wear. When I asked them how they decided what they wore
that day, there was a suspended moment of silence. It seemed a pretty
dumb question. A few just said "they wore what they wore." This was a
perfect beginning as it was the same kind of response they were
giving as to how they were getting their math answers. I told them how
I decided what I wore that day.
First I checked the weather in the paper and by looking outside.
Several agreed that they did this as well.
I had to decide between wearing a dress/skirt or pants since either one
could make a difference in accessories, in comfort, and in the
impression I wish to give. Most of the girls related to this one.
I had to be sure what I wanted to wear was clean and ironed. They
laughed at this one. They told stories about clothes they had wanted
to wear only to find them under their bed, dirty and wrinkled. The
ironing part puzzled them. They claimed no one ironed clothes any
more.
I had to check to see if I had shoes that went with the possible outfit.
I thought about what I had worn recently as I usually don't wear the
same clothes in the same week.
I thought about the color I felt like wearing.
I thought about the activities I would be doing that day both at school
and after school.
Each new consideration brought out comments from them. Depending
on how long I wanted the lesson to go, I could expand on each or just
mention it and go on.
After this discussion, it was clear to students that their thinking
process is richer than they first suspected. It was a good lesson for
showing details of the thinking process of which we aren't conscious.

I could now explain how the same is true of a mathematical thinking

process.
Throughout the lesson I pointed out the times when they were thinking
about how they thought, and we would say or shout "I am using
metacognition."
For their journal entry they wrote about how they chose their outfit. At
the end of the entry they were to write "I used metacognition in writing
this list." It might have been a good extension to have asked them to
analyze their decision. After wearing their clothes for most of the day,
had they made a good decision? Why or why not? Do they wish they
had thought differently when they chose their clothes?
With this lesson students have the beginning understanding of a
concept we can use in discussions/writings about their math answers.
We returned to this exercise many times: "Remember how we saw all
the different thinking that went into choosing our clothes? Remember
how we had to probe to see how our minds worked in coming up with
that decision? Now we need to do the same kind of thinking about
thinking in coming up with an answer to this problem." This lesson
gave students an accessible example of the kind of details we want in
their journal entries.

Lesson Plan #2: Peer Evaluation of Journal Entries

Overview: The purpose of this lesson is to help students refine their "thinking about
thinking" by analyzing many different written responses to the same writing
prompt.
Strategy: Compare student journal responses to the same math question. Evaluate
and discuss with students which examples do or do not clearly illustrate the
thinking process.
Time Needed: 15-25 minutes, depending on amount of student interaction.
Materials Needed: Overhead projector; pens for the overhead; student writing
journals; a copy of the original math question on a transparency; copies of four to
eight student answers from their journals, each on a separate transparency (to
give you a variety of answers to choose from during the lesson). Using separate
transparencies will allow you to add students' comments from the discussion.

Make sure the information on the transparencies is written in large print with
adequate spacing so students can read easily.
Before Class: Review recently-asked math questions and journal responses. Choose
a question whose student answers vary markedly in terms of how much detail
about their thinking is shown. Select four to eight student answers, some of which
show detail and some that are in the realm of "I just knew." Do not put student
names on the samples.
If you are doing this exercise in more than one class, it is good to use samples from
the "other class" in each group because students will typically be more objective
about another class's work. This means you will need at least two sample answer
overheads.
Procedure:
1. Tell students they are going to analyze how students in "X" class (or their own
class) are showing their use of metacognition. (Keep using this word. Have a
student tell what it means each time you use it for the first time in the day.) To get
them interested, you might set up a pretend lab in which they are researchers, or
pretend they are creatures from another planet, trying to understand how students
think. Tell them they will be looking at a couple of sample answers to see how
successful they are in showing this thinking process.
2. Show the original question on the overhead. Leave it showing throughout the
lesson.
3. Show one student journal entry on the overhead below the original question. Have
someone read it out loud.
4. Ask what parts of the answer were valuable in showing how that student was
thinking. Underline or circle such parts if you wish. Let students comment as

thoroughly as possible. Ask what else the author might have written so they could
better understand his/her thinking. Write these additions on the overhead.
5. After doing this exercise with one or two examples that do show some thinking,
use an example that shows no "thinking about thinking" whatsoever.
6. Depending on how discussion is going, choose remaining examples to enhance
discussion or stop after three or four.
7. At the end of discussion, have students write in their journals about the kind of
answers that showed metacognition, to allow them to reflect on the lesson. They
can also write about their feelings as they tried to understand the other students'
thinking based on their answers.
Personal Narrative:
One Teacher's Experience with "Peer Evaluation of Journal Entries" Lesson
It is a challenge to get students to write details about their thinking.
Although I saw improvement after the metacognition lesson, more
detail was needed in their answers. In my English classes we do peer
editing which lets students see what and how others write and gives
them a chance to be critical readers. I varied this for the sixth grade
math class. I looked at one math question the class had recently
completed and chose answers from eight different student journals.
Some showed good detail and explanation, some showed little or
none.
Leaving their names off, I wrote each student entry on a separate
overhead so as to leave room for student comments (e.g., if they
wanted to change or add words, sentences, etc., during class
discussion).
I told them to think of themselves as the researchers in this project.
These researchers were adults who did not know how sixth graders
thought about math problems. The researchers were interested in
being better math teachers. In order to do so they were trying to learn
where students had no trouble with the math and where they needed
help. Students liked this role.
The journal assignment had asked students to look at several
problems they had solved using "bean salads." They had created
"salads" using different ratios of three kinds of beans. Students had
worked in small groups and had bowls of actual dried beans that they

could use while figuring out the ratios. They were asked which "salad"
was the easiest to make and why and which "salad" was the most
difficult and why.
We looked at an entry that had four sentences. It was one of the better
answers. Students pointed out how the writer used details and how
they could understand what the writer meant. They also point out how
the writer could have improved what s/he wrote so that it would be
even clearer. We all agreed it was an adequate answer.
The next entry was "Number 1 was easy because it just was." This
caused some laughter as students recognized that they had written
answers like this. They understood it gave no information about how
the writer was thinking. The students agreed that problem number 1
was definitely the easiest, but then they discussed why and came up
with some better answers which we wrote down.
Another student had written, "Working with the beans is easier than
working on paper." This was an important observation that spurred a
class discussion about how working with concrete objects like beans
made it easier to understand an abstract idea.
Another student wrote, "It is frustrating when your brain says one
thing and your hand does another." There were immediate nods of
agreement on this one. Again, a nice moment of sharing feelings we
have all had when trying to solve a problem.
Students were very interested in this lesson. Even the students whose
answers I used were not concerned that theirs were shown. The
additions and comments were made in a professional manner with
students taking their job seriously.
This lesson showed students what others were writing. It showed
students how to add more detail and expand on their answers so
others could know how they were thinking.
At the end of the discussion have students write in their journals.
Since all students had written on this journal question, they could
copy their original answer and then write an improved version; they
could write about the kind of answers discussed in class that showed
metacognition; or they could copy one of the answers and add detail
to it.
Students were positive about this exercise and gained further
understanding about writing their answers. This kind of peer
evaluation exercise should be done regularly. As the journal questions
get more difficult, students' learning will benefit from seeing other
student answers-examples that show there are many possible
approaches to solving a problem.

Writing Opportunities in Math Class

How and When to Use Journal Writing

1. When new material has been introduced.
Ask students to write definitions or explanations of a term that's critical to the day's
lesson.
Sample Direction: "Explain in your own words the meaning of the term
____________."

2. When the class looks disengaged or confused.

Ask students to write an explanation of something you were doing or a term you
used. Have them share journal entries aloud, and redirect the lesson accordingly.
Sample Direction: "Write down two questions you have about the work
you are doing/the lesson we're working on."

3. When collaboration with fellow students is appropriate.

Have students form small groups and work together to solve a problem on paper.
This will get them to talk to each other-to ask questions and give explanations-all
with the common goal of solving the problem.
4. When teaching the value of revising their work.
Occasionally ask students to pick a journal entry and revise it. This helps emphasize
that journal writing is an initial effort that can be rethought and improved upon-the
end product is less important than the process.
Sample Direction: "Review the last three entries in your journal. Select
one to revise." Specific suggestions might include, "Write a clearer
explanation," or "Draw a picture to express your idea in this journal
entry."

Sample Journal Questions/Writing Prompts

Writing prompts can take many different forms. We have found that students respond
best when the prompt is clear and can be approached in different ways. We
recommend prompts that do the following:
1. Pinpoint a confusing or easily misunderstood mathematical idea
For Example: "Do 0.2 and 0.020 equal the same fraction? Explain your
answer."

Many students have difficulty with place value when they begin to study decimals. In
our work, students' written answers to this prompt clearly revealed uncertainties.
As one student responded: "The zeroes don't matter, so .2 equals .2." This student
does not appear to have a good understanding of place value, having over
generalized the "hint" to ignore certain zeroes. Another student drew two grids in
response to this prompt. In one grid she colored in two rows of tenths and in the
other grid she colored in two hundredths. She concluded that 0.2 was "way more"
than 0.020. Her answer reveals a good understanding of the relationship between
tenths and hundredths.
2. Can be solved using different strategies
For Example: "Allison's team won 8 out of 10 games. Jennifer's team
won 15 out of 18 games. Whose team won a greater fraction of its
games? Explain your answer."

Students used different strategies to approach this problem . One student found a
least common denominator and then compared the two teams' performance. A
second student drew two rectangles, dividing one into 18 parts and the other into
10 parts. He then colored in 15 and 8 parts, respectively, of each rectangle. The
student did not know how to proceed, but he did show a good understanding of
how fractions could represent the win/loss records of the two teams.

3. Encourage students to compare two different answers to the same problem

For Example:
"Who is correct? The problem: Which fraction is biggest? 1/3 or 2/5?"
Jamar's solution: 2/5 is bigger because 15 is the LCD and 1/3 equals
5/15. 2/5 equals 6/15. So 2/5 is biggest.
Bill's solution: I used the calculator. I made them decimals and then
compared the decimals. For 1.3, I divided 1 into 3 and got 3.0. Then I
divided 2 into 5 to get 2.2. 3.0 is bigger than 2.2, so 1/3 is biggest.

This prompt encourages students to consider two very different approaches to the
same problem: the least common denominator (LCD) method taught in the text
and a calculator. The two offered solutions also model fairly clear explanations. In
this case a correct and an incorrect solution are offered. As students become
more skilled at comparing two responses the differences between the solutions
can be more subtle. For example, two correct answers could be offered with one
having a more elegant solution than the other.

Managing Math Journals: Helpful Tips

1. Provide students with thin, inexpensive journals. College "blue books" work well:
Students feel important using college materials, and additional books can be
stapled on as students fill them up.
2. Keep journals in class. Collect math journals each day so as not to lose them.
3. Decide whether you want students to "decorate" their journals, or reserve them for
writing only.
4. Decide on a system for identifying journal entries. Rather than having students take
time to copy the writing prompt, have them number or date the entries.

5. Develop system for distributing and collecting journals each day. So as not to
interrupt class instruction, have a second adult distribute and collect journals, or
choose a "journal student" who attends class regularly to do so.
6. Use a timer for some journal assignments. This will help keep students writing.
Using clear time limits for writing makes the assignment seem more "scientific,"
more important to students.

Encouraging Students as They Write

1. Be patient. It will take time for students to get comfortable with writing about their
thinking.
2. Tell students you understand how new and different this is for them. Remind them
that there are no "wrong" answers in writing about thinking.
3. If students indicate they have no more to say:

Read over what they've written. Ask questions such as: "What other

questions do you have about this topic that you haven't written about?" or
"What's another way this could have been said?"

Have them copy what they've written, so they'll get the idea that they are to

write for the whole time given. (Often, they'll get bored with copying and begin
writing something new.)

4. Ask students to choose a journal entry to revise.

Some students will use this revision exercise to rethink math ideas; others

will work on writing more clearly. Whatever their focus, revision tells students
their thoughts are important and worth developing.

5. Provide feedback.

Let students know you took time to read their journals.

You won't have time for in-depth comments on each journal for every

assignment, so try other kinds of feedback, too:

Stars

Stickers

Smiley Faces

Put stars by sentences that helped you see their thinking.

6. Clearly communicate to students the purpose of writing in math class.

Teach them the term "metacognition"-thinking about thinking-and explain

how their writing helps teachers to understand how students think.

Other purposes of writing: Writing is a concrete way to show students'

thinking that they can look at and think about. Becoming more aware of their

thinking process will improve their communication skills, their ability to convey
ideas.

7. Use students' writing samples to help them refine their writing.

Have the class analyze which answers helped readers understand the

person's thinking.

Mathography Prompts
Here are some ideas for prompts to get students to write a "mathography"-a sort of
autobiography of their history with mathematics:
1. Write down some of the early math accomplishments that you remember from
when you were little. For instance, when and how did you learn to count? How old
were you when you could first count to one hundred? Who taught you? How did
they teach you? Did you "show off" this new talent to others?
2. When you were in first, second, or third grade what did you like about math? What
didn't you like about math at that time?
3. What do you remember about learning to add and to subtract? Which did you think
was more fun? Why did you like that one better?
4. What was your teacher's name in first, second, or third grade? _______________
What kind of teacher was he or she in regard to teaching mathematics?
5. Did you have any "tricks" you used to remember adding or subtracting?
6. In what ways is adding and subtracting important?

7. Was math ever your favorite subject? ______ If so, when was it? What about math
made it your favorite? If math has never been your favorite subject, what about it
do you not like?
8. From your experience, do you think boys or girls tend to like math better? What
makes you think this?
9. Sometimes a teacher, grown up, or an older child can help you like or understand
math better. Did that ever happen to you? If so, tell about it. If not, tell about how
that would have made a difference for you.
10. Sometimes people can recognize a time when their opinion of math dramatically
changed either for the better or the worse. If such a time happened for you or for a
friend of yours, tell about it. If you did not experience such a thing, tell about your
steady feelings about mathematics.
11. Lots of times students think what they learn in math is only for the classroom and
is really not of much use outside math class. Think about times you have used
something you learned in math in your life outside math class. List some of those
times when you used math outside of school.
12. What year in school was math the best for you? ________ What made it a good
year in terms of math?
13. What year in school was math one of the worst for you? ________ What made it a
bad year in terms of math?
14. If you were in a lengthy conversation about math or math class with friends of
yours, what would be some of the things you would say? What would be some of
the things they would say?
15. Draw a picture of you and the idea of mathematics.
16. Draw a picture of all you know about mathematics.