How Reading Affects Math
- A Critical Skill for Learning Math
As and how my experience in teaching grows, my struggle with teaching reading grows too. With each progressing year, the number of readers is decreasing. And along with the number of readers, the number of thinkers and problem solvers is also falling. Yes, their reading skills are directly proportional to problem-solving skills.
After numerous parent teacher interviews over the years, I feel that many parents treat math and language as separate subjects, and they d not see any co-relation between the two. They are very happy to see high math grade, and not enough attention is paid to falling reading grade; it is simply dismissed with a comment stating that their child does not like to read.
Reading skills Math does not affect learning basic concepts and computation in Math. But the moment we talk about the application of the skills and concepts learned in problem-solving, the struggle begins. This is my sixth year teaching junior school, and in my experience, students rush to solve the math problems, many times without even reading the given problem. I have compared results of the tests when I have read the problems aloud, and when I just projected it on the board vs handing a sheet of paper or text book; they perform better when I read it. But for how long will teachers keep reading aloud the problems? Why can't the students read and understand the problems themselves? The answer is simple...most of them just don't want to read. They don't like it as they weren't encouraged to read. The responsibility of raising a reader is a shared one. Parents need to do their part of encouraging their children to read, think and analyse.
Hardly any families have a designated reading time. I came to this conclusion after years of interviews with parents. The love for books is fading fast because not many parents read. The screen time is increasing substantially for parents and kids. The children are given tablets and laptops to keep them busy from a very early age. Words don't interest them as they don't have time for imagination. Imaginary worlds are created for them in the games they play. Watching a movie is preferred to reading a book. The younger generation wants instant gratification; they want to know what happened and how the story ended instead of imagining the setting and characters via descriptions of the writer, transporting into that imaginary world and be a part of it for days, thinking about character motivation and hoping for a happy ending until the last chapter of the book, or imagining how the ending could have been different...if only!
What makes me sad is my fear that along with reading, imagination will fade, and with imagination innovation will fade. I hope my fears are baseless. But students used to come programmed with empathy and kindness. I didn't have to spend so much time in the classroom inculcating basic values. They used to learn it by reading and spending time with their families instead of gadgets. Don't wrong, I am not anti-technology; I am a specialist in integrating technology in the classroom. But I am worried about fading reading skills that are the foundation of learning every other subject.
Some facts to support my worrying can be found in the following articles:
As and how my experience in teaching grows, my struggle with teaching reading grows too. With each progressing year, the number of readers is decreasing. And along with the number of readers, the number of thinkers and problem solvers is also falling. Yes, their reading skills are directly proportional to problem-solving skills.
After numerous parent teacher interviews over the years, I feel that many parents treat math and language as separate subjects, and they d not see any co-relation between the two. They are very happy to see high math grade, and not enough attention is paid to falling reading grade; it is simply dismissed with a comment stating that their child does not like to read.
Reading skills Math does not affect learning basic concepts and computation in Math. But the moment we talk about the application of the skills and concepts learned in problem-solving, the struggle begins. This is my sixth year teaching junior school, and in my experience, students rush to solve the math problems, many times without even reading the given problem. I have compared results of the tests when I have read the problems aloud, and when I just projected it on the board vs handing a sheet of paper or text book; they perform better when I read it. But for how long will teachers keep reading aloud the problems? Why can't the students read and understand the problems themselves? The answer is simple...most of them just don't want to read. They don't like it as they weren't encouraged to read. The responsibility of raising a reader is a shared one. Parents need to do their part of encouraging their children to read, think and analyse.
Hardly any families have a designated reading time. I came to this conclusion after years of interviews with parents. The love for books is fading fast because not many parents read. The screen time is increasing substantially for parents and kids. The children are given tablets and laptops to keep them busy from a very early age. Words don't interest them as they don't have time for imagination. Imaginary worlds are created for them in the games they play. Watching a movie is preferred to reading a book. The younger generation wants instant gratification; they want to know what happened and how the story ended instead of imagining the setting and characters via descriptions of the writer, transporting into that imaginary world and be a part of it for days, thinking about character motivation and hoping for a happy ending until the last chapter of the book, or imagining how the ending could have been different...if only!
What makes me sad is my fear that along with reading, imagination will fade, and with imagination innovation will fade. I hope my fears are baseless. But students used to come programmed with empathy and kindness. I didn't have to spend so much time in the classroom inculcating basic values. They used to learn it by reading and spending time with their families instead of gadgets. Don't wrong, I am not anti-technology; I am a specialist in integrating technology in the classroom. But I am worried about fading reading skills that are the foundation of learning every other subject.
Some facts to support my worrying can be found in the following articles:
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