"Think Like a Mathematician"

As a Teaching of Mathematics major (Secondary Education), I have constantly come across the phrase, “Think like a Mathematician.”  Up until this point in my academic career, I never thought much into this being said or what it really meant. I guess you could say I was not thinking metacognitively when hearing this, but I just took it in surface level. I am sure that when I am saying this; that other disciplines have heard this same phrase, but referring to their exact discipline whether it is science, history, etc. When hearing this phrase, what do you think? Do you think it has a deeper meaning? 

After reading the readings from this past week, I have come to the conclusion that this phrase means so much more. It actually shows pre-service teachers and in-service teachers that our future students do not know how to read through different disciplinary lenses and that teachers need to remind them that when they are in different classes that they need to think, read, and write for that discipline. If teachers need to remind them that they need to do this, then it is apparent that there is a lack in mentoring and showing students how to be literate across the disciplines.

                 

Buehl discusses that students come to classes with different identities whether they are part of our nature, related to positions we have attained, personal traits, and ones we share with others through associations. These identities then influence our personal profiles as readers (Buehl, 2011).  These identities can either empower or undermine academic performance. Learning in a discipline requires people to enact different identities (Moje, 2011). For example, I have always heard peers in my classes say that they were not good at math because they liked another subject better. These things are either reinforced by themselves or by others and what they say about them. These students will then be coming into our classrooms with preconceived notions that they may or may not read, write, or think well in particular subjects. This is where I believe the phrase, “Think like a ___insert discipline here_______,” comes into play because we need to remind our students that they need to think, read, and write differently depending on the course.

               

 As pre-service teachers or in-service teachers, it is crucial for us to help our students to develop as readers, thinkers, and writers across all the disciplines in the upper level classrooms which can be done by using many strategies and practices (I was surprised that majority of the teachers were not in favor of them based on the article by Moje). As teachers, we have developed ways of thinking pertaining to our particular disciplines, and it has now become natural to us. As Buehl said, “Thinking this way as a reader comes naturally to me now. I just do it” (Buehl, 2011). No matter the discipline, we read for comprehension and understanding. Students are asked and expected to be many different kinds of readers and writers as they move on to high school. We have to examine and challenge what it means to learn in different disciplines or subject areas (Moje, 2008). We want and expect students to comprehend texts dealing with complex concepts by applying skills that have been rarely taught. Moje discusses that literacy practice is an integral part of subject-area learning rather than a set of strategies engaging with texts (Moje, 2008).

               

 Teachers consider themselves only responsible for teaching the subject, but they also need to teach the reading skills along with it. All subjects must challenge students to read and understand complex texts. We need to apprentice readers, thinkers, and writers in disciplinary literacy. One way we can do this is by modeling. We can give access to how we think in order to build their models of thinking in relation to this discipline. In my future math classroom, I would like to implement this to help my students understand certain algorithms, equations, word problems, etc. Teachers modeling their thinking was one of the ways I believe I became very good at solving equations, word problems, and just math in general. Once I saw how an expert was thinking about that concept, I began modeling my thinking after that example. To see how a teacher deconstructs the problems, sentences in the textbook, and definitions, it is correctly modeling reading through a mathematics lenses. This can and should be done across all subjects. We also have to support practice as well by scaffolding which is providing temporary supports for instructional purposes that guide students in their thinking (Buehl, 2011). An essential component of scaffolding is fostering classroom student collaborations. Students will not use what was taught unless it is practiced. They need to remember to use these practices and modeling whenever doing work with that specific discipline. Then the student needs to read and learn independently by applying processes of comprehension. If teachers model and scaffold correctly and if students practice and read/learn independently, they will also understand the concepts more in depth. Once a student understands the concept fully, they can then make connections across the entire discipline. Connections can be made across many different subjects. In particular, math concepts build off of one another and it is hard to understand them if you do not make connections. In order for students to make these connections, they need to think, read, and write like a Mathematician.