Mathematics · reasoning · representations
Disciplinary Literacy for Mathematics
A focused professional-learning page for math teachers on how students read problems, symbols, equations, figures, worked examples, and mathematical explanations.
Start with the Ohio course companion, watch the video, then choose one math-specific support: vocabulary relationships, multiple representations, sentence frames, or error analysis.
Playable video and right-side resources
Support students as mathematical readers, writers, and problem solvers.
The video centers on the Simple View of Reading, then shows how mathematical comprehension depends on precision, vocabulary relationships, representations, and discussion around correct and incorrect solutions.
Supporting Mathematics Literacy
Ohio Literacy Academy on Demand videoMathematical reading asks students to combine decoding with number sense, symbols, precision, calculation, and reasoning. The video emphasizes that math vocabulary is often highly precise and frequently polysemous, and that students benefit from multiple representations, vocabulary relationship work, sentence frames, and discussion around worked examples.
- Math terms often have everyday meanings and precise technical meanings; make the specialized meaning explicit.
- Multiple representations count as texts: equations, diagrams, tables, apps, data, figures, and worked solutions.
- Correct and incorrect worked examples can lower cognitive load and create room for explanation, discussion, and metacognition.
Department reflection
- Which terms in your next unit need examples and nonexamples?
- Where do students need language for explaining or comparing solution methods?
- How could error analysis shift attention from calculation to reasoning?
Suggested use
Turn the video into one concrete classroom move.
Choose one upcoming mathematical task and decide whether students need vocabulary support, sentence frames, Frayer examples, or error analysis to make their reasoning visible.
Identify the vocabulary, representation, or explanation students need to handle.
Pair the task with a Frayer model, sentence frame, morphology list, or error-analysis checklist.
Look for more specific mathematical language and clearer explanations of reasoning.
Source credit: Ohio Literacy Academy / ReadOhio / Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. This page links to public resource copies hosted at assets.joshualawrence.com and preserves source credit for the original Ohio Literacy Academy materials. Resource links are placed next to the relevant video so a content-area teacher can watch, reflect, and open the most useful tools from one place.