Writing in Math

I believe that using writing in mathematics not only strengthens a student's writing skills but reinforces their learning because it is sort of a reteaching method. I currently utilize writing in my classroom during warm-ups, quick writes, projects, exit tickets, and various forms of assessments. With the availability of tablets, I plan to have students begin class each day in the same manner with a prompt that includes a small writing component. Through Edmodo, students will see the prompt from me and will respond to the entire class. Just as we did today, students will from time to time be asked to examine another student's writing, highlight the academic vocabulary words in green and the tier 2 vocabulary words in yellow, and prepare a positive-only response. Obviously, I want to create a safe learning environment and encourage students to participate. Similarly, throughout the lesson we will be able to initiate quick writes whenever the opportunity arises and close the lesson with an exit ticket that is assigned and only viewable by myself. This will allow me to check for understanding and grade the formative assessment in a private manner. Students will be able to maintain all their writings, projects, and other assignments in their "backpack" which is like an endless flash drive and since Edmodo's grade book maintains copies of all their assignments, work will never be misplaced. As I prepare to become a paperless classroom, I catch myself stopping in the midst of activities and asking myself how I would change things given tablets in the hands of my students. I have post-its with ideas stuck around my classroom from ideas that are generated. I feel like I could write a book with all my post-its put in chronological order:)