1. Keyword strategies send a wrong message about doing mathematics.
It encourages children to ignore the meaning and structure of the problem and look for an easy way out. Math is about reasoning and making sense of situations.
2. They can be misleading.
Look at this example:
Dani gave 28 stickers she no longer wanted to João. Now Dani has 73 stickers left. How many stickers did Dani have to begin with?
The word left is often thought of as a subtraction keyword. However, in this context, the mathematician should be adding the numbers together. If the student was only relying on the keyword, they would be misled in this problem and many others.
3. Many problems have no keywords. Especially when you get away from overly simple problems.
Consider this problem:
Simone has 10 fish in the fish tank. Four are orange and the rest are yellow. How many fish are yellow?
In this problem, if students are only using keywords to determine which operation to use, they would be left wondering what to do because there are no keywords in this problem.
4. Keywords don’t work with two-step problems or more advanced problems, so using keywords for simpler problems sets children up for failure because they are not learning how to read for meaning.
So, what should we do instead? I find it important to set up students with routines that we naturally do as adults. The following routine might seem like common sense; however, it is very important to explicitly teach them to students and hold your students accountable for using them.
Math Routine for Comprehending Word Problems
Reread: Slow down and reread as many times as needed
Visualize: Imagine what is taking place in the problem. What is the order of events?
Ask questions: What do I know? What do I need to find out?
Make predictions: What would be a reasonable result? Do I expect the answer to be more or less than the numbers I’m given?
Another great routine to try now and then with your students is called Numberless Word Problems. Numberless word problems help engage students and increase mathematical communication while also providing a deep understanding of the problem situation for English Language Learners. And they are SUPER easy to write! Read this blog post to learn how to easily write your numberless word problems.
Use these slides with your students or make a copy to modify them for your students.
