Chapter 7: Writing To Communicate In The Secondary Mathematics Classroom:

There is a popular school adage that mnemonically recites the three essentials to an effective school experience: reading, writing, and arithmetic. For many years educators have compartmentalized these “Three Rs” into respective content areas; arithmetic skills are gained in a mathematics classroom, while writing and reading are developed in the linguistic orientated subjects like English and history. It was not until 1989—with the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics document—that the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) documented that communication is an important goal of mathematics education, and that this goal is best accomplished when students “have an opportunity to read, write, and discuss ideas” (NCTM, 1989, p. 8) in mathematics class as well as in English and history classes. The standard of communication relies so heavily on language that Vazquez (2008) considers it “as important to learning mathematics as it is to learning to read” (p. 19). The NCTM makes it clear that students are to move away from archaic forms of drill and practice and move toward expressing mathematical ideas orally and in writing (NCTM, 1989). The newly stressed communication focus can take three forms in the classroom: an inner communication or metacognition, a communication between peers in the classroom, and clearer communication between the learners and the teacher. Implementing writing in the mathematics classroom leads to increased metacognition for students, improved class discussion, and explanation of mathematical strategies, and an authentic assessment tool for teachers.