Mathematics and literature are two terms that aren’t typically correlated, however in a classroom, these two things need to be connected in order to better student understanding. If you can read and write about something, that means you understand it. This is the case for all subjects, including math. The article I have linked here describes this importance and gives examples of how to incorporate literature into mathematics. But, before I get into the article, I think it is important that we establish what exactly literature is. I think sometimes people assume that literature is only book. However, this is not the case, especially in a math classroom. Literature and literacy can be embedded in a multitude of different ways when teaching math. The article lists different ways to integrate literature into a math classroom: exploratory writing, informative/explanatory writing, argumentative writing, etc. We need to have our students write there answers to math problems in complete sentences, that is literacy. We need to have a repetitive spiral review of mathematical vocabulary, that is literacy. We need to have our students debate their answers, that is literacy. Literacy isn’t always books, it’s talking and debating. By implementing these things, we can ensure that our students understand the material. If they can write about it, they know it. I think this article does a great job explaining the importance of this connection, and gives examples of student work to show how simple it can be to integrate literature into our math curriculum. This particular article is geared toward math teachers, however I do think anyone can benefit from it because of the concrete evidence it has to justify the need for this integration. In any classroom, especially a math classroom, I think it is important to have your students prove to you, through literature, that they have understood a concept.
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Kim, I completely agree with you. Math is my other area of emphasis and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article and hearing your analysis of it. I think it is so important to understand what literacy truly is to be able to relate it your content area and you did a great job at diving deep to the root of it. Literacy really does not have to mean writing an essay or reading a novel. Math and Literacy do not flow together, but literacy is very involved in math. We wouldn't be able to answer problems and explain our answers without being literate. I really loved your approach to this!!
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Kim, I think it is awesome how you found a website that could incorporate literature into the typically not thought of math classroom. I found your resource could not only help math teachers but also provide strategies for other content areas with just different topics instead. Like for example, having students in social studies use the same strategy of a debate and working things out together in groups.
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