Students who don’t read well or lack crucial vocabulary often face unnecessary obstacles—not just in reading but also in math.
Years ago, when I served on the board of a charter elementary school, teachers told me about an odd phenomenon they’d noticed. Sometimes when children couldn’t do math problems on their own, teachers would try reading the problems aloud—and suddenly the kids could solve them. Apparently, those students could do the math. They just couldn’t read the words.
Later, when I was researching a book on literacy, I visited a first-grade classroom to observe reading instruction, but it turned out the time was being used for math instead. I decided to observe anyway, and I discovered how difficulties with oral language comprehension—not just reading—could interfere with students’ ability to do math.
While the teacher met with one small group, the other children were working independently using digital devices and wearing headphones that enabled them to hear instructions for the problems read aloud. So despite the fact that their reading skills were quite limited, the teacher must have assumed they would be able to understand what they were supposed to do.
But as I discovered when I wandered around the room, that wasn’t always the case. One boy heard the instruction “Combine 8 and 3,” but he didn’t know whatmeant until I told him it meant “add.
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