2 thoughts on “Dortmund (and academic research) isn’t so far away after all.”
I love your thinking, Janna. You are making wonderful connections about language, learning, and power. I also think you are reading the right people to think about these things with.
Two unrelated thoughts:
First, when I was in the Netherlands last year, I went to the Ministry of Education and found out that they have a program that is designed to connect teachers to research, The Netherlands Initiative for Education Research, NRO. The folks who presented on it were Niels Rijke,
Rosanne Zwart (formerly a prof at Utrecht), and Rowan Zuidema.
Second, your attention to language has me thinking about issues of teacher listening. Allison Hintz and Kersti Tyson have both taken up this question. Some forms of teacher listening are certainly more productive for fostering student sensemaking. I wonder if this might be another productive avenue for your reading.
Two ideas from this are popping out at me:
1) “… yes, math is a language, but we also need some kind of other language, … to talk about the meaning of mathematical ideas.”
and
2) Math requires a level of precise language not needed in everyday communication.
I think many teachers just assume that non-native speaking students can get by better in math than they can in other courses, because they don’t need the language. That premise influences then how the math is taught. If I assume the two premises above, then I am driven to teach math differently.
I love your thinking, Janna. You are making wonderful connections about language, learning, and power. I also think you are reading the right people to think about these things with.
Two unrelated thoughts:
First, when I was in the Netherlands last year, I went to the Ministry of Education and found out that they have a program that is designed to connect teachers to research, The Netherlands Initiative for Education Research, NRO. The folks who presented on it were Niels Rijke,
Rosanne Zwart (formerly a prof at Utrecht), and Rowan Zuidema.
Second, your attention to language has me thinking about issues of teacher listening. Allison Hintz and Kersti Tyson have both taken up this question. Some forms of teacher listening are certainly more productive for fostering student sensemaking. I wonder if this might be another productive avenue for your reading.
I love your updates!
Two ideas from this are popping out at me:
1) “… yes, math is a language, but we also need some kind of other language, … to talk about the meaning of mathematical ideas.”
and
2) Math requires a level of precise language not needed in everyday communication.
I think many teachers just assume that non-native speaking students can get by better in math than they can in other courses, because they don’t need the language. That premise influences then how the math is taught. If I assume the two premises above, then I am driven to teach math differently.