Big+Idea

The "topic" of using literature in a mathematics classroom is more than just one standard or one example task can express. It is a teaching choice that takes work and thought. There are so many people in the classroom and out in the world who are advocating for less "teaching to the test" and using texts that aren't just textbooks in the classroom will do just that.

Storybooks can be used in a geometry classroom easily. A simple Google search will lead you to several blogs listing clever little books that are fun, colorful, and educational in an non-intimidating way. Using a book like //Sir Cumference and the Knights of the Round Table// will have a much greater impact on your students's learning because it is considerably less confrontational than a ninety year old, twenty pound textbook. Even if the text is not explaining a new topic, you could read a short story about a mathematician or a poem about shapes as an introduction before delving into foreign concepts.

You can also use books to give historical information on how these mathematical topics came to be. For example, before you start your unit on the Pythagorean Theorem, you could read a book on Pythagoras. This will make these lofty historical figures more manageable because they have a face and a biography and no just a name and a theorem. There are also several books that have possible careers if you like doing certain types of math, this again, is making mathematics real and tangible by applying it to events and people outside of the classroom and textbooks.

When you use a book as a part of your mathematics curriculum, you are providing a real world context and requiring cognitive thoughts from your students. If that isn't your point of teaching, then I don't know what is.