WELCOME!
I CAN’T USE THIS BOOK FOR MATH;
THERE’S NO NUMBERS IN THE
TITLE!
Dr. Timothy McKeny
Ohio University
Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics
October 18, 2012
The Common Core Standards in
the Early and Middle Grades
NCTM, NCTE, and NAEYC agree!
•
Elementary [and Middle grade] students need high-quality,
challenging, and accessible mathematics education.
•
Understanding and using mathematics increases educational and
social opportunities for productive futures.
•
Instructional activities should continually engage children and lead
them to construct mathematical understanding.
•
The artificial separation of mathematics and language is very
unnatural in developing understanding.
•
Both literature and mathematics help us organize and give order to
the world around us.
Mathematics Reform Efforts
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2007; 2001
• National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008
• National Research Council, 2008; 2001
• Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2009
• Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2009
• NCTM and National Association for the Education of Young
Children, 2002
But…
Teachers challenged with implementing reformbased mathematics often default to teacherdirected approaches that rely on:
• The memorization of isolated facts,
• Repeated use of algorithms that have no inherent
meaning,
• Math classrooms that operate within a sanctioned
silence. (Boaler, 2008; Van De Walle & Lovin,
2008)
“The mathematics and the understanding
that the Common Core State Standards for
Mathematics require is not usually the
mathematics that elementary and middle
school inservice teachers experienced in
their past (Wilburne, Keat, & Napoli, 2011).
Without a clear vision of what learning to teach
mathematics through constructivist means looks like
and sounds like, elementary grade teachers tend to
adopt a teaching style that closely mirrors their own
learning experiences as students
(Ball, 1990; Thompson, 1984).
“But, in expanding the definition of
‘text’ to include anything that provides
readers, writers, listeners, speakers,
and thinkers with the potential to
create meaning through language can
begin to open up his or her classroom
to student thinking, student discourse,
and sense-making” (Draper, 2002)
BMTL – who we are
• Dr. Timothy McKeny
(PI)
• Dr. Susan Nolan
• Ms. Sue Payne
• Ms. Kate Leeman
• Dr. Linda Rice
• Mr. Brian McCoy
• Ms. Chelsie Wollett
• Mr. Derek Sturgill
• Ms. Carolyn Ervin
BMTL – what we are
BMTL is a professional development opportunity for
inservice elementary teachers and intervention
specialists.
BMTL examines ways of teaching elementary
mathematics through engaging, learner-centered
activities, through the infusion of the CCSSM
Mathematical Practices, and through the use of
writing, reading, and communicating.
BMTL – what we are
BMTL Participants gain pedagogical knowledge and
pedagogical content knowledge in the blending of
the mathematics and literacy.
Participants are motivated to explore studentcentered mathematics instruction by the
incorporation of mathematically rich tasks that
create a classroom atmosphere conducive to
meaningful learning, community building, and
naturalistic inquiry.
BMTL – what we are
BMTL builds
mathematical
understanding for
participants and
students through
“tales, tasks, tools,
and talk” (McKeny
and Foley, in press).
Integrating Mathematics and Literacy is NOT new!
•
Writing in Math Class (Burns, 1995).
•
Literacy Strategies for Improving Mathematics Instruction
•
My Kids Can: Making Math Accessible to All Learners (Storygard,
•
Exploring Mathematics through Literature (Thiessen, 2004).
•
Literacy + Math = Creative Connections in the Elementary
Classroom (Altieri, 2012).
•
Cowboys Count, Monkeys Measure, and Princesses Problem Solve:
Building Early Math Skills through Storybooks (Wilburne, Keat, &
(Kenney, 2005)
2009).
Napoli, 2011).
Let’s Try This!
The Monster Who Did My Math
Written by: Danny
Schnitzlein
Illustrated by: Bill Mayer
Peachtree Publishers, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-56145-420-4
•
•
•
•
Grade Level(s): __________________
Title: _________________________
Author ________________________
Illustrator: _____________________
Mathematical Task with PLOT:
Mathematical Task with CHARACTERS:
•
Book Synopsis:
•
PLOT:
•
CHARACTERS:
•
ILLUSTRATIONS:
•
SETTING:
Mathematical Task with ILLUSTRATIONS:
Mathematical Task with SETTING:
Mathematical Task with OBJECTS:
•
OBJECTS:
•
TIME FRAME:
Mathematical Task with TIME FRAME:
Problem Posing with PLOT
Examples:
List actions in a logical order
Clues to identify a part of the story
Compare actions
Make predictions based on evidence
Connect the plot to a math concept
Redesign the plot to include mathematics
A “math walk” through the story
Explore conjectures, estimations, generalizations
Mathematical Task with PLOT
Let’s pretend that
the Monster in our
story charges the
boy 35¢ for each
multiplication
problem and 60¢ for
each division problem
he solves.
How many types of
each problem did the
Monster solve if the
boy’s bill is $15?
How many different
solutions can you
find?
Problem Posing with CHARACTER
 Make the Character(s) come to life
 Put the Character(s) in the students’
classroom, bedroom, kitchen, or community
park
 Make the story real to children: what
open-ended tasks can characters face?
Mathematical Task with CHARACTER
Let’s pretend that
the Monster’s Magic
Calculator has
broken.
How did the Monster
use the Magic
Calculator to get the
homework answers
of:
-10
1
Only the 5, the 2,
3
10
the ×, the −, and the
= buttons work.
24
100
Problem Posing with ILLUSTATIONS
Illustrations can:
Capture students’ interest and
imagination
Visualize the mathematics
Enhance the details of the narrative
Place mathematics in a meaningful
context
Mathematical Task with ILLUSTRATIONS
How many different
monster faces can
you make from 4
different sets of
scary eyes, 3
different eerie
noses, and 3
different sets of
pointy teeth?
Problem Posing with SETTING
Consider how the students can relate
to the setting.
Settings help to create integrated
teaching units.
Students can begin to see the
mathematics in the everyday.
Mathematical Task with SETTING
Respond to our class
survey about the places
where we do our math
homework.
1)At the kitchen table
2)In my room at home
3)At the library
4)At a friend’s house
Draw a graph to display
the results.
Problem Posing with OBJECTS
 Familiarity (and unfamiliarity) with objects
in the story provide learning opportunities.
 Objects in stories can be compared,
contrasted, sorted, and classified. (Got
Van Hiele?)
 Objects in stories can be described or
constructed with 2D and 3D shapes
Mathematical Task with OBJECTS
To do the boy’s math
homework, the Monster
requires a very special
type of pen.
Pens-R-Us sells 2 pens
for $1.40
Pen-Mart sells 3 pens
for $1.99
• Which store has the
better buy, Pens-R-Us
or Pen-Mart? How do
you know?
• Which store would you
go to to buy 24 pens?
Show your thinking in
words, numbers and
pictures.
Problem Posing with TIME FRAME
The TIME FRAME of a story:
 Builds understanding of time measurements
 Creates the necessity for standard units
 Can bridge a students imagination and reality
 Allows for comparisons and contrasts
Mathematical Task with TIME FRAME
Before the boy’s
teacher realizes that
the Monster is doing
the math homework,
the Monster has
spent 1,725 minutes
doing homework.
• How long is this in
hours?
• How long is this in
days?
• How long is this in
weeks?
Now it’s your turn!
In grade-level
groups:
interact and
collaborate
read the storybook
use the framework
to create
mathematical tasks
share your tasks with
the whole group
take this idea back
to your schools!
Thank you and enjoy
OCTM 2012!
Dr. Timothy McKeny
Department of Teacher Education
Ohio University
mckeny@ohio.edu