Mathematical Letter Writing

Mathematical letter writing can be a mutually beneficial partnership between high schools and universities. Secondary school preservice teachers in methods courses require authentic experiences in focusing on students' mathematical thinking. High school students benefit from increased opportuni...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Mathematics teacher 2009-12, Vol.103 (5), p.340-346
Main Authors: Norton, Anderson, Rutledge, Zachary, Hall, Kareston, Norton, Rebecca
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algebra
Collaboration
Evaluation
Feedback (Response)
High school students
High Schools
Indiana
Letter writing
Letters
Letters (Correspondence)
Mathematics
Mathematics education
Mathematics Instruction
Mathematics Teachers
Methods Courses
National Standards
Nursing students
Partnerships in Education
Preservice Teachers
Reasoning
Secondary school teachers
Teacher Student Relationship
Teachers
Universities
Writing
Writing Instruction
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Mathematical letter writing can be a mutually beneficial partnership between high schools and universities. Secondary school preservice teachers in methods courses require authentic experiences in focusing on students' mathematical thinking. High school students benefit from increased opportunities to engage in individualized tasks with personal feedback from preservice teachers. Further, letter-writing exchanges between students and preservice teachers contribute to reading and writing experiences in mathematics, such as mathematical journaling, as advocated by state and national standards. In fact, Communication is one of National Council of Teachers of Mathematics's (NCTM) five Process Standards set forth in "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics" (2000). In this article, the authors report on the logistics of the letter-writing partnership and provide evidence that the benefits motivating this partnership were realized. The authors present reactions from the algebra 2 teachers and students to the letter-writing experience and offer suggestions for implementing letter-writing partnerships. (Contains 3 figures.)
ISSN:0025-5769
2330-0582
DOI:10.5951/MT.103.5.0340