BOOK CLUB SUMMARY- READING #1

We all agreed that language is fundamental in all the different content areas. It is the main tool to help student make meaning of words. One strategy the math people explored was the usage of word origins, prefixes and roots.  Having students looks up prefixes and their roots is a tool to help them better grasp the meaning of words. Math is like a new language for the students, and as teachers we need to make our classroom language usage intense for them to understand mathematics terms. For science, language also plays and important role. Language skills are needed to communicate with the science community. It is important to model using language in the classroom for students to do the same. Some of the connections that were made were: one page 109 square root concepts to the reading apprentice of the four dimensions- socially they are connecting with other students, they reflect on their work, cognitive- they are thinking about the problem and knowledge building- they understood the underlining concept of the task.  Another one was found in the reading about reserving space for wall of words this tides to Stephen wall of words. Lastly, another great connection was in Chapter 3 that summarizes that students have difficulty understanding math vocabulary this tides to the Risk Article reading about struggling students not being able to decode words. All in all, Language plays a very important role in helping students make meaning of what they are learning in class regardless of the subject area they are studying.