MTMS March Article - Poematics

In this creative recount of a unique concept in the area of teaching mathematics, Abraham Ayebo and Lynda Weist describe a classroom in which students are encouraged to connect mathematics with other areas of academic exploration. In this particular example, students are taught via a lesson that integrates poetry and mathematics allowing students to connect their mathematics knowledge with their writing skills and create mathematical poems, or poems describing mathematical concepts and situations/poems with mathematical origin. Essentially, students were asked to describe the mathematical concepts and situations that they were learning through the context of a poem, while being encouraged to use informal, creative and expressive language.

I found this concept and article to be very intriguing. This is a perfect example of a teacher who is at the forefront of the movement to take mathematics outside of the traditional plug and chug memorization context, and allow students to make connections to other academic and real life situations. This allows the students to see how mathematics can apply to a variety of situations and subjects that they will experience every day, and allows them to better connect to the subject in a fun way.