Final Synthesis Blog

At the beginning of this semester I had no understanding as to why literacy in a content area classroom was important. As a future math teacher, I was skeptical about taking this class. I thought I was finished with any literary classes, and I did not think I needed anymore knowledge in that subject. I now have a new understanding of why it is important to incorporate literacy in my classroom. Students are being tested with questions that are loaded with words. Without the ability to understand the content in a literacy point of view, students may struggle taking standardized test. One assignment we did this semester that got me thinking about literacy in a math class was our book clubs. By having the ability to read a book that could be used in a math class, I became intrigued with the notion that books are not only for English classes. A whole book most likely will not be relevant for the class, but choosing certain excepts from the text to present to the classroom can be beneficial.

            

Throughout the semester, we had the chance to dive a little deeper into reading/thinking strategies that can be used in the classroom to help guide students when using literacy. Each strategy brought new knowledge to me about way I can incorporate literacy without it being way too obvious. One strategy that stuck out to me was turn-and-talk. As simple as this strategy is, it gets the students actively engaging with one another through verbal conversation about the question at hand. Teachers may also have students write down some of the things they spoke about with their classmates that they may return to in the future for guidance. As I mentioned before, standardized testing has become difficult over the years because the way they are set up. The questions are wordier then they need to be which can cause students to trip up on the problem, or they may not understand what exactly the question is looking for. During the semester we had the opportunity to look at questions fro the 8^th grade milestone for math, and I was even a bit lost with some of the questions. I am going to school to be a math educator, and I was having issue with the 8^th grade milestone test questions. This was an eye-opener because one would never believe that a math test would be so literary based. As I move forward in my career, I will have to teach students not only the content that is necessary but also how to take standardized test. This means I will have to implement literacy in my classroom to promote positive learning and teach standardized testing. As you can see, this semester has opened my eyes to so much. I now believe that literacy in a content area classroom is crucial to the success of the students in my classroom. I am excited to use all the strategies that have been presented in this class in my future classroom. I cannot wait to see how literacy plays out in my classroom.

510