Reading Ratios

So I've been talking about Content Literacy for the past month or so and trying to wrap my head around what it means specifically in the setting of a math class. Then, in the book* that we are using as a textbook in my content literacy class, I was introduced to the idea of "text sets". Tovani defines a text set as "a container organized by units of study". She got the idea from elementary school libraries and classrooms around the country where books are organized by topics and authors and genres. Now how do we take that idea and transfer it to a middle or high school classroom? And more specifically, a math classroom?

I've been exploring this idea over the past week and coming up with new ideas. After all, what does text even look like in a math class? Part of the point of these text sets are to help students at all different levels to gain the same understanding of the same content in a different way. It can be with readings of different levels of difficulty or, in my case, problems that range from easy (to some students) to extremely difficult. Here is an example that I have compiled of a text set to help students understand ratios.

The Math Dude - The Golden Ratio:
I mentioned The Math Dude in a recent blog post and here he is again! This is a video and blog post on this thing called The Golden Ratio and how many photographers use it to take more interesting pictures. This text and video could be used to help students find some interest and usefulness in ratios. Text sets don't have to contain only boring reading materials. This is an example of that.

Dan Meyer - My Ultimate Nerd Math Crush - Genius lesson plans:
I cannot tell y'all how much I love this man and think he is wonderful. I had the amazing opportunity to hear him speak last semester and the way that he went about teaching a group of math teachers with a simple but very real world problem blew my mind. If I had had him as a math teacher, who knows where I'd be know? Probably conquering the world... I digress. This link provides a few of his videos, worksheets, and full lesson plans on how to work with students on ratios. This is another way that kids can get practice doing word problems and making sense of ratios.

Sometimes Funny Things Help Students Understand Better:
This video is horribly cheesy, but I found myself chuckling, so maybe awkward middle school students will too? It tells the story of a girl going on multiple dates and each guy speaks a different number of words. One guy talks too much compared to her. Another doesn't speak much at all. Finally she finds a guy who talks the exact same amount as she does and boom! It's love. (Don't we all wish it was that easy.) It also talks about equivalent ratios and equivalent fractions which, I believe, can help students in their understanding of this topic.

Extra Practice:
This is a link to worksheets and extra problems that students can use to practice their understanding of ratios. There are different levels of difficulty that can be used to help students. Maybe after watching some of these videos or learning different ways to go about solving the same problem, they can practice what they've learned.

Notes - Different Ways To Think About the Same Problem:
Teachers have to understand how to do a problem in 12 different ways so that they can teach 12 different students to understand how to do it in their own way. In the text set, I've included some notes that I've taken of different ways to look at the same problem. Sometimes there is not enough time to teach 12 different ways during class, so this is an opportunity to help students take learning into their own hands and still succeed.

This concept is still a little bit foreign to me so join me as I grow in my understanding of text sets. If you have ideas, please let me know! After all, the whole point of this blog is to learn and grow from other teachers ahead of me. And I hope that this helps you too. If it does, let me know about that too. A little encouragement never hurts :)

"Content Literacy - the ability of someone to interact with and use strategies to interpret the content of some subject (in its own language) including being able to speak, listen to, read, and write in that language"

{Sassy}

*Do I Really Have to Teach Reading? by Cris Tovani