Engaging Diverse Learners in the Mathematics Classroom: A Functional Language Awareness Approach for Middle and High School Educators

Language is a vital tool for teaching maths - it’s present in word problems, textbooks, teacher talk, and more. With this game-changing guidebook, middle and high school teachers will harness the power of language to ensure math success for all students, including multilingual and other diverse learners who may need support to access academic language.

Introducing a unique functional language awareness approach developed through decades of research and field work, Engaging Diverse Learners in the Mathematics Classroom helps teachers examine how they use language in the math classroom and make small changes to their words and practices to support student learning. Math teachers will see the functional language awareness approach in action across different classroom contexts, and they’ll get a practical collection of ideas, activities, and tools for making the most of language in the math classroom. An innovative approach that complements popular math models used with English learners, this guidebook will help educators use language consistently and effectively to meet the learning needs of all.

Maths Teachers will:

• record, analyse, and reflect on their own use of language in the classroom
• increase understanding of student strengths and needs by developing learner profiles
• establish language-rich interactive routines that engage all learners
• plan powerful math lessons with an explicit focus on how language can support learning
• build student competence in key skills related to math, including explaining, reasoning, and problem-solving
• teach students precise language for communicating their math knowledge
• use a think-aloud technique to reflect on and improve elements of their planning and teaching

Special features included:

• Leverage language effectively in the math classroom through sample transcripts of teacher-student discourse
• Try It Yourself boxes
• On Your Own activities, and reflective practice.

Online materials include a lesson plan template, sample lesson plan, transcription guide, and other forms to support effective teaching.

Table of Contents

About the Online Companion Materials

About the Author

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: A Functional Language Awareness Approach to Teaching Mathematics

• Objectives
• What we mean by language and literacy
• Solving for area: A language function with many features

• Introducing functional language and language awareness

• Summary

Chapter 2: Into the Classroom: Contexts and Activities

• Objectives
• Defining contexts for learning
• Embracing diverse classroom experiences
• Learning through activity
• Summary

Chapter 3: Lesson Planning with Language Functions and Language Objectives in Mind

• Objectives
• Lesson planning with functional language awareness
• Understanding language demands and language objectives
• Summary

Chapter 4: Introducing New Material: Defining and Describing

• Objectives
• What do we mean by ‘defining’ in the mathematics classroom?
• Focusing explicitly on vocabulary
• Tools for word study in the classroom
• Summary

Chapter 5: Making Sense of Problems: Inferring, Predicting and Outlining

• Objectives
• What we mean by problem-solving in the mathematics classroom
• Focusing explicitly on grammar
• Tools for problem solving in the classroom
• Summary

Chapter 6: Building Expertise in Explaining and Reasoning

• Objectives
• What we mean by explaining in the mathematics classroom
• Focusing explicitly on grammar and frames for explaining
• Promoting explaining in the classroom
• Summary

Chapter 7: Reviewing and Communicating Results

• Objectives
• What we mean by reviewing and communicating results
• The art of reviewing in the mathematics classroom
• Communicating results: Precision in language
• Summary

Chapter 8: Reflecting on Practice in Functional Language Awareness Classrooms

• Objectives
• Using functional language awareness to design and reflect on the big issues
• Reflection in unit and lesson planning

Summary

Glossary

References