Making Mathematical Thinking Visible
For English language learners, diagrams can be a powerful tool to develop and communicate mathematical understanding. Imagine being a 6th grade student who is still learning English, sitting in a mathematics classroom and trying to navigate the lesson. You might wonder: What is the teacher saying I should do? Did my classmates solve it the way I did? Will the other students laugh at me when I try to explain how I solved the problem?
This article describes how diagrams can be a powerful tool to develop and communicate mathematical understanding for English language learners.