Theoni Soublis and Brandie Waid

Modern curriculum calls for all content teachers to be reading teachers as well.

Soublis and Waid present a way to have students read in math while still learning mathematics.

They state , “To get into the habit of reading regularly, students need to read content that captures their imagination and piques their curiosity. The correlation between reading comprehension and contents area ability is high. Encouraging students to read in mathematics classrooms,...,increases their comprehension of word problems, their mathematical vocabulary, and their critical thinking skills” (Soublis, 113-114).

The use of novels in mathematics classes has three major goals:

1) “to get students excited about computation and analytical thinking in a new way.”

2) “to increase students’ desire to read, thereby having a positive effect on their ability to read.”

3) “to boost teachers’ ingenuity in the classroom by offering resources to help promote critical literacy across the curriculum” (Soublis, 114).

The book Alice in Wonderland involves a girl who enters a world where she eats and drinks things that change her size.

Soublis and Waid say this is a good way to introduce proportions.

An example question may be, “If Alice is 54 inches tall and she drinks a portion that shrinks her to 1/9 of her height, how tall will Alice be after drinking the potion?” (Soublis, 114).

Students are also asked comprehension questions to see how they can relate mathematics to the book, “How can we use mathematics to illustrate the situations encountered by Alice?” (Soublis, 114).

Soublis and Waid suggest many more novels and activities that can be used (and have been used) in a math class.

These are: Hatchet, Digital Fortress, A Wrinkle in Time, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Hannah Divided, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

During my EDC250 experience at Feinstein High, Students had to read a novel about fishermen.

In math they had to complete an extensive packet that asked questions regarding conversion rates found in the book. This gave the teacher a different way to introduce percents, fractions, and proportions.

Integrating a novel into math class can be helpful for a number of reasons:

1) Students can see how simple math problems may arise in certain situations

2) Students are offered an alternative way to learning about math

3) Teachers can teach a difficult topic with more fluidity

4) Students connect Math to English

Smyth, Theoni Soublis and Brandie Waid. “Integrating Literature: a Novel Idea.” Mathematics Teacher | Vol. 104, No. 2 • September 2010. Print.