Running head: Reading Closely for Mathematic 1

Reading Closely for Mathematic Improvement

Jennah Jacobs

Manhattan College
Reading Closely for Mathematic 2

Abstract

In this paper, I looked at how close reading could improve standardize test scores

in mathematics. My research turned up very little information pertaining to this topic. This is

devastating because many standardize test use word problems as areas for students to get the

most points and if students do not know how to read it, they lose out on these points.

Keywords: standardized test, mathematics, close reading

Reading Closely for Mathematic 3

In New York State, high school students have a set of standardized test called Regents

that they take in high school in order to receive a Regents diploma. Many other states have

standardized test requirements that go by different names. Even in states without standardize test

requirements, students who want to enter college are required to take either the SAT or the ACT

test. Schools and parents put a lot of resources such as private tutoring into making sure that their

students not only pass the test, but also excel. Students are taught reading comprehension for the

reading section along with a multitude of ways to better understand what the question is asking,

but for math, students prepare by doing problems and memorizing formulas. Some students can

memorize formulas easily, but if they can not compile and comprehend the information provided

in the question, their memory of formulas is useless. In order to combat this, mathematic teachers

should not only teach the formulas needed for the tests, but also how to gather all of the

information from the question. In literature courses teachers use close reading to gather

information from a text. If teachers were to implement it into mathematics, it would allow

students to understand the problem and be better able to solve it.

For my research, I am working with a high school student who attends a public high

school in New York. I am helping her prepare for the state’s Geometry Regents by meeting with

her once a week and working on problems assigned by her teacher. The student I am working

with struggles on test and stays after school for tutoring with her teacher. In reviewing her test

with her, I noticed that most of her problems came from not understanding the question. She

understands the material, but she is not able to figure out the parts of the problem and where they

fit in the formulas. Since this is a geometry course, many of her test questions are word problems

that require using given measurements to find a missing part. For example, in her unit on

triangles, she had a word problem where she had to find the height of a tree based on its shadow.
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Understanding what specifically the question is giving her and what she needs to find is

incredibly important especially as she starts using trigometric functions because depending on

what sides are given depends on what function she needs to use. I will teach her the close reading

skills that she needs in order to obtain a better understanding of the questions.

“Close reading is a purposeful, critical analysis of a text” (Phoenix Union High School

District, 2013). Students tend to skim text in order to finish test within a time limit. This

unfortunately leads to a multitude of mistakes. In mathematics, not understanding the problem

can lead to students using incorrect formulas leading to the wrong answer even if the student

grasps the concept. Students must read the problem closely in order to “to extract key concepts”

(Boyles, 2012). They must not only find the numbers, but also what the numbers represent.

The main concept of close reading that is used in mathematics is annotation of the text. In

annotating the problem, a student is able to pull out the essential information. Annotation is

“underlining or highlighting” important information as well as “making notes in the margins”

(Kain, 1998). Students will then look at the data and use it to find the best possible way to solve

the problem.

In my search for a connection between closed reading and standardize mathematics score,

I was only able to find a small amount of sources that contain both topics, less that look at the

connection and no research looking at the connections. In Marcy Boudreaux-Johnson’s Doctoral

Dissertations she found that students who were taught close reading skills did better on

standardized reading comprehension test (2015). While this study does not look at math scores

the same concepts is applicable to mathematics.

Many teachers do not see reading as an integral part of mathematics; instead it is

something that should be taught in other subject areas (Metsisto, 2005). With the increase of
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incorporating real world problems into mathematics, the use of reading in mathematic

classrooms has also increased, therefore it is more important now for teachers to incorporate

reading practices in their lessons in order for students to be able to succeed on standardize test.

Word problems in math often contain just as much information as a paragraph in fewer

sentences (Metsisto, 2005). These problems use more exact phrasing in order to avoid

redundancy, but unfortunately this compaction of information can make it difficult for the

students to pull out the essential parts. In addition, words in mathematics do not always translate

the same way they do in English. One example is the use of the word “similar”. In English, any

shape that looks alike would be considered similar, but for mathematics, only triangles with

corresponding angles that are the same measurement are similar. Another conman example is the

word “difference” whose English meaning is not the same; however in math it means the

subtraction of one numerical or algebraic value from another.

When a student reads a word problem, they often just look for the numbers and the

question in order to guess what they should do. This incomplete assessment of the problem can

lead to students misreading and therefore misinterpreting the problem. In one case, a student

could read “prove that a multiple of 6 is even” and only prove the problem for 12, while in

reality the question is asking for the proof for any and all multiples of 6 (Metsisto, 2005). With

the lack of time spent on teaching reading mathematical questions, students continue to make

these mistakes which leads to frustration for the teacher who may believe the student is not

trying which can lead to the student feeling worse about their mathematical abilities.

The student I am working with doubts her ability in math because she struggles with

word problems. She can grasp the formula, but she struggles in applying it on her test and since
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she is in geometry, majority of her test questions are word problems. I will use close reading to

help improve her test scores and improve her confidence.

I will spend time reviewing the problems the student I am working with got wrong on

tests and have her underline information that she believes is important. Afterwards, I will have

her write all the information out and if applicable, I will have her draw a picture to visualize the

data. Next we will discuss what formula is applicable for the problem that she is working on.

Finally she will solve the problem by inputting the information into the formula.

Unfortunately, since I only work with this student at most once a week, I am not going to

be able to see the change this strategy has on her grades. If used in a classroom, this strategy

should either be taught throughout the year or during sessions of standardize test preparation. In

the case of standardize test preparation; teachers should also work with the students on being

able to pull out important information not only from the text, but also the answer choices. When

taught throughout the year, teachers should work on improving students’ efficiency to help them

be able to use this tactic on a timed exam.

In conclusion, research on closed reading in mathematics is nonexistent due to the belief

that it is not something worthy of using precious class time to teach even though it has been

shown to improve scores in other subject areas. Since students in New York State take their

standardized test in June and I was only able to spend an hour a week with my student, I was

unable to see if close reading strategize made any difference in her ability to succeed on the state

test. However, through my research and finding lack of it, I concluded that math teachers should

start implementing close reading into units that heavily focus on word problems and in turn

publish their own research about it.

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Works Cited

Boudreaux-Johnson, M. (2015). An Evaluation of Close Reading for Fourth Grade. Louisiana:

Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.

Boyles, N. (2012, December). Closing in on Close Reading. Educational Leadership , pp. 36-41.

Kain, P. (1998). How to Do a Close Reading. Retrieved April 17, 2018, from Havard College

Writing Center: https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/how-do-close-reading

Metsisto, D. (2005). Chapter 2. Reading in the Mathematics Classroom. In J. M. Kenney, E.

Hancewicz, L. Heuer, D. Metsisto, & C. L. Tuttle, Literacy Strategies for Improving

Mathematics Instruction. Alexandria: ASCD.

Phoenix Union High School District. (2013). Arizona Common Core State Standards “Read Like

a Mathematician” . Phoneix: E^2 Math.