7 Steps for Reading Math Textbooks

Stop!  Before you read this blog, have you read my previous blog?  If not, click here to get caught up…this will make much more sense if you do!  🙂

Here are the 7 Steps for Reading Math Textbooks

1. Read every word – every word has meaning
2. Slow down – one paragraph could take 5-10 minutes to read and digest!
3. When comprehension is waning, look at the vocabulary load and ask yourself “Am I understanding each word and technical term?”
4. Read to find the steps and “what to do” suggestions from the author – these steps are the reason we read the math text!
5. Approach reading the textbook differently: you don’t “read through it,” you “work through it” – it is a guidebook for a series of operations you complete while reading
6. Read for details first, then concepts (by the way, this is the exact opposite from how we read in history/social studies!)
7. Visuals are expensive to product in textbooks, so when you see a chart/graph/image, you know that it’s important – take time to read it, not just scan it!