Author: Rachel Lambert
-
Mathematics and Dyslexia Part I
What do we know about teaching meaningful mathematics to students with learning disabilities, particularly those with profound difficulties learning to read, otherwise known as dyslexia? Here is a great place to start: a blog post by a mathematician with dyslexia who lists some of the many strengths of people with…
-
Numberless Word Problems
I have loved the work I have discovered on Twitter on Numberless Word Problems. Discussing word problems without including numbers is a great way to help students make sense of problems instead of making “number salad,” when they just toss the numbers around without any clear idea of how they…
-
Developing meaningful mathematics goals for IEPs
In the last few months, several educators have asked me some variant of the following question: How do we shift students’ IEP goals from rote memorization to meaningful mathematics? IEP goals are the heart of instruction for students with disabilities. In my experience, a narrow goal can contribute to all…
-
Constructivism is a theory of learning, not of labeling
I deeply believe that knowledge is constructed in relationship to what we already know. Understanding means constructing a web of connections, ideas, experiences, etc. So I am certainly a constructivist in mathematics, although I tend to see individual children as learning through not only their own experience, but through engagement…
-
Concrete Representational Abstract (CRA) in mathematics
In response to a Twitter inquiry, I decided to write up some longstanding thoughts on the Concrete Representational Abstract (CRA) sequence that is popular particularly in designing instruction for learners with disabilities. First, what is CRA? Here, from a researcher who done several studies on CRA with students with disabilities…
-
How to help kids use more complex strategies in multiplication? Give them harder problems.
Zhang, D., Xin, Y. P., & Si, L. (2013). Transition from Intuitive to Advanced Strategies in Multiplicative Reasoning for Students with Math Difficulties. Journal of Special Education, 47(1), 50–64. I love this article because it uses constructivism to understand the development of three kids with disabilities in learning multiplication, particularly drawing from the…
-
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Universal Design for Learning (CAST, 2011) was inspired by Universal Design in architecture. If you design for people with disabilities before you built the house, it can be more accessible, less expensive, and more beautiful. UDL applies that theory to learning. Beginning with the premise that variability is what all…
-
Quick Theory Post #2: Neurodiversity
Neurodiversity grew out of the work of autistic self-advocates, or autistic people who identify as activists. Here is a definition from an interview with a neurodiversity activist you can read in full here. Neurodiversity, the word, simply means the whole variety of different brain wirings people have…from the different kinds…
-
Quick Theory Post #1: Disability Studies in Education
Disability Studies in Education (DSE) developed out of Disability Studies (DS), which is an interdisciplinary academic field that questions what meaning is made of difference. Simi Linton, a DS scholar, writes, Disability studies takes for its subject matter not simply the variations that exist in human behavior, appearance, functioning, sensory…
-
Disability, invisibility, and equity in mathematics (part one)
A recent post by my friend and colleague Andrew Benjamin Gael rightly critiqued the recent NCTM conference for omitting disability in current calls for equity. The recent Executive Summary of the Principles to Actions doesn’t mention disability or special education at all. Andrew asked why, and then went on to…
mathematizing4all 