Writing to Succeed in Elementary School Mathematics

From 1989 to the present, mathematics curriculum documents have emphasized the importance of communication in mathematics learning and teaching. In order to understand concepts and processes, learners (and teachers) need to talk about, write about, and represent their understandings. Through communication ideas are clarified, and in turn communication becomes clearer. This article presents some of the writing and teaching strategies used in elementary mathematics classrooms in three schools over the last 13 years. Via these strategies, students developed a repertoire of powerful learning strategies. They articulated connections between new learning and what they already know, and made personal sense of their learning.