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| 6th Edition Cover |
Even though it was meant as a satire of a culture who attempt to assign everyone into a status or position in life, it is most known today as a study about geometric dimensions and shapes. The characters are geometric shapes trying to move around in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and even 4th dimensions. They come upon rules that prevent or hinder them from changing dimensions, such as a cube not being able to live in two dimensions.
Despite my trepidation I read the story and wrote my report. I made an A and remember enjoying the story even today.
This is the type of book that I would assign my future Geometry class. I would work with an English teacher to make sure all the common core requirements are covered. It would be a thorough application of using literature in a math class.
This is a great post about a great example of literacy in the content area. I really love that you, as a math teacher, are so open to assigning reading in your classroom!
ReplyDeleteAnd also you are an award-winning author as we see in another post (though the proof seems to be conveniently missing....). But seriously, how nice for your future students that you, unlike me, have a brain that is well-balanced so that you are not so intimidated or stumped at the idea of bringing literacy into a math class. We learned in a Diverse Learners class I just took (all part of the lateral entry experience) that some students who have trouble with math word problems are having literacy problems rather than math problems. I can assure you that my problem with math word problems is the math--but I guess the point is that there is already more literacy in math than we realize.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed that you had a teacher in 8th grade math (maybe because it was an AP class?) that thought "out of the box" and assigned a reading assignment and report. Like Stacey says, even though it's a math class, students may be experiencing literacy problems. An assignment such as this one would help the teacher to evaluate each and every student's literacy skills/issues.
ReplyDeleteIt was really awesome to finally see a math teacher think of ways to make math interesting for their students. I say this because math was my worst subject in grade school and i would have really liked this kind of assignment to get my mind off of the mixed up numbers in my head and into a world I can understand. I agree that this would be a great way to bring literacy into a math class, and something I think your future students will enjoy.
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