Reading To Make Meaning.

  I am working my way through "The Writing on the Classroom Wall" by Steve Wyborney.  I'm presenting each big idea to my students to help add a depth to their learning.  This week the idea is that reading is about making meaning.  That is  a powerful idea because we teach students to "read" the text but not to read for meaning.

Honestly, its not something I've ever thought about because most of the classes I've taken do not discuss the reader of a math text book should make meaning.

So how does a mathematics teacher help students learn to make meaning as they read?  There are several things they can do to help students learn to do it in math.

1.  Identify a short passage for students to read from the text, find a graph or data chart, or word problems.

2. Create a list of statements about the text that could be true or false, or could be open ended so as to generate discussion.

3. Introduce the topic of the text and have students read the statements before they read the text.  Ask them what they know about the topic before they read so they are activating prior knowledge and are able to predict possible answers to the statements.  See if they can make connections such as math to math, math to self, and math to the world.

4. As students read the text, they should write down support for and against each statement.  The support needs to be very specific so as to help develop their understanding of the material. 

5. Put students in pairs or small groups to discuss the evidence so they can read a consensus of whether the statements are supported or refuted.

6.  Conduct a whole class discussion to share their conclusions.  This gives students a chance to clarify their thinking or perhaps see something they missed earlier.

7. Use their conclusions to evaluate their understanding of the text.

These are the main steps in order to teach students to make meaning for any subject be it reading, science, math, or social studies.  If the middle school or high school teachers require students to follow the same process, it makes it easier for them to transfer it from one to the other.

Let me know what you think.  I'd love to hear.