Content Area Standards

A list of all grade 9 content standards can be found at the following link,
https://mnscu-
my.sharepoint.com/:x:/g/personal/iw8589ze_go_minnstate_edu/ET3h3T1Xoq5Nju
CqibwR0CUBJL328j6XUTz9GOcgmq3YyA?e=5ZbveD.

1.

o This standard explicitly talks about student’s prior knowledge by using the
word apply. This means that the student already knows the information and
needs to use it to solve a problem.
o This standard implicitly talks about student’s prior knowledge by talking about
world situations. Students should have prior knowledge to make an informed
decision, but not all students have the same background.

2.

o This standard implicitly asks you to connect to student’s prior knowledge. It

talks about looking at relationships between graphs, tables and symbolic
representations in order to analyze a problem. This statement implies that
students have prior knowledge of these things if it is asking them to analyze
and translate between them.

3.

o This standard explicitly implies that students have prior knowledge of this
standard. The word ‘apply’ gives us this sense because in order to apply
 something it requires prior knowledge of said thing in order to use it in a
different method.
Aleks & George. (2020, January 6). Attending to students’ funds of knowledge in the
mathematics classroom. Congruentthoughts.
https://congruentthoughts.blog/2020/01/06/attending-to-students-funds-of-
knowledge-in-the-mathematics-classroom/

Authors
- Author Aleksandra Veselovsky is an Assistant Professor of Secondary
Education. She specialized in both practice-based education and culturally
relevant teaching in math classrooms.
- Author George H. Litman is also a Professor at National Louis University. He
specializes in mathematics teaching, technology in mathematics, and general
mathematics
Concrete Strategies
- At the start of the year they give students the assignment to write a math
autobiography about themselves. They did this mainly to connect with students
and learn more about them as people.
- Another strategy that was point out was allowing students to play a teacher
AND student role. “Students shared how the metric system was used in their
households, how they learned either or both of the measurement systems, and
when they used each,”. This allows for students to share their funds knowledge
with the class.
- A ‘learning partnership’ was also described in this blog. It is a partnership in
which students share information and learn together to understand each
other’s thought processes and why they might think this way. It also explains
that putting students into groups gives the opportunity to yet again play the
‘teacher role’ that was discussed previously.
- Finally, they talked about another way to let students take control, creating
problems. Letting students create their own problems deepens their knowledge
and engages them because they can include any interest they may have. This is
also a time for students to use what they know to share with the rest of the
class.

North, Julia Glissmann. (2014, December). Culturally relevant pedagogy: secondary

mathematics in an urban classroom. University of Northern Iowa UNI SoclarWorks.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1133&context=hpt

Author
- Julia Glissmann North was a graduate student in December of 2014. She wrote
this article as an assignment to her Honors Program Theses. She studied and
wrote this under the supervision of Dr. Catherine Miller, Honors Thesis
Advisor, Department of Mathematics, and Dr. Jessica Moon, Director of the
University Honors Program.
Concrete Strategies
- In an Algebra 1 classroom, “hang pictures of a diverse group of
mathematicians. All pictures should be accompanied by a short biography of
 the individual or an information card.”
- Include posters or information about how different ancient cultures discovered
and preformed mathematics
- Give students a list of jobs that use the subject being taught a lot so if students
are interested in the topic, they can get excited about having a possible job in
the future. This will motivate students to succeed as well.
- Put aside a wall or bulletin board for students to be able to express their own
cultures. Incorporate cultural assignments to add to this wall so students can
be informed of each other’s cultures and learn from each other.
Bennett, Colette. (2020, February 12). ELL Students’ Background Knowledge as an
Academic Fund. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/ell-students-funds-of-
knowledge-4011987

Author
- Colette Bennett has been a literacy specialist certified educator for over 20
years. She has her masters in English and bachelor’s in education. She also
holds a CAS and is certified in reading and school administration.
Concrete Strategies
- Educators must start with the assumption that ELL students will have certain
gaps in education that need to be filled.
- Bennett recommends that teachers gather information about students in the
following categories; home language, family values and traditions, caregiving,
friends and family, family outings, household chores, family occupations, and
scientific.
- Offer students the opportunity to bring in something from home that they can
show and explain to the class.
- Have students interview their family members and make a project to discover
their own self funds of knowledge, “interview family members as part of a
specific study in biography or a general writing assignment”.

Cooper, Stacey Jannell. (2016, February). Exploring the Uses of Cultural Funds of
Knowledge Among Ethnic Minority Immigrant College Students in Their
Constructions of Learning Identities Within a Collaborative Photovoice Project. City
University of New York Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1787&context=gc_etds

- Cooper suggests using home visits to understand students home life, “Using
home visits, teachers uncovered familial funds of knowledge by finding out about
household activities, family structure, labor history, and parents’ views on child
rearing and schooling”.
- Asking students to interview a family member for their opinion on projects.
This allows students to gain more knowledge about their family members and
learn more about their past and where they come from.
- Including the making of mathematics that focuses on out of schooling. It
focuses on the people who created/discovered math instead of the content. This
gives students the opportunity to understand that content as more than just
school work and to see where it comes from to gain a deeper knowledge in the
content area as well.