Making mathematics visible through narrative

The latest content and practice standards for mathematics have promoted the use of academic language and discourse in this content area. As such, the WIDA Consortium has evolved its guidelines to deepen teachers’ conceptual understanding of language in their content areas, and thus, enable them to provide more effective instruction to multilingual learners. Karen L. Terrell explores one of the primary “key language uses” in mathematics — the narrative genre. She also considers how visuals can be powerful scaffolds and means of expression for multilingual learners and discusses how visuals can be used for students to both receive and express knowledge. The use of narrative and visuals can make mathematics more accessible to all students.