In this article for Ed Post, Mary Christensen-Cooper and Maureen McNamara Jones reflect on their experiences in the math classrooms as educators, coaches, curriculum writers, and even parents. draws inspiration from districts that have achieved notable success in their math programs. From this, they share research-based strategies that can help support students with disabilities in math. Some strategies they suggest include:
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One strategy teachers can use is to activate students' prior knowledge or start a lesson with a concept students know before diving into something new. That increases engagement and helps students see connections between topics. For example, before engaging fourth graders with new learning about adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers, it’s helpful to activate students’ prior knowledge about the meaning of vocabulary associated with fractions, such as numerator and denominator.
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Finally, it's helpful for teachers to provide concrete or visual representations for math concepts and multiple methods for solving problems—the idea Mary worked on with educators in Michigan. You can bundle sticks to help students understand place value or that 10 ones make one ten. Concrete models and drawings can be used to solve a problem. The number bond, for example, is an example of a visual model that uses circles and lines to show part-whole relationships.
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It's also important to use clear and concise language in math lessons. For students needing language support, like those with dyslexia or other reading-related disabilities, overly complex vocabulary or sentence structure can be unnecessary barriers to solving world problems. This became apparent to us when a sixth-grade student in the Detroit area, Mya Gooden, urged our organization to make an early version of our math curriculum more readable.
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In addition, students need enough time to practice and absorb what they learned in a lesson. So, if a teacher leads a lesson on a core concept in math, it's vital to give kids the chance to engage in tasks related to that concept after the lesson. We believe in the 10:2 principle, meaning that for every 10 minutes a teacher talks, students need 2 minutes of interactive time to apply and practice what they've learned.
Read the full article for free on Ed Post.
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Great Minds PBC is a public benefit corporation and a subsidiary of Great Minds, a nonprofit organization. A group of education leaders founded Great Minds® in 2007 to advocate for a more content-rich, comprehensive education for all children. In pursuit of that mission, Great Minds brings together teachers and scholars to create exemplary instructional materials that provide joyful rigor to learning, spark and reward curiosity, and impart knowledge with equal parts delight.
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