2016 Foxborough Summer Institute

One of the most frequent statements students make after reading a math word problem is “I don’t get it!”. One reason for this is that students read the problem like they would read any other piece of writing. It turns out that reading in math is different. Instead of reading to understand context, characters and conflict, mathematicians read for quantities and uncover relationships between those quantities to solve problems. In this session, participants will not only learn what makes reading in math difficult and what to pay attention to when reading a word problem, they will learn a powerful instructional routine, called the Three Reads, they can use to teach their students to read like mathematicians. This session is especially relevant for those SPED and ELL educators supporting student learning in math (grades K-12).