Sunday, March 15, 2015

The problem with math

Guest speaker and poet Deanna Young came into our class a few weeks ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting this. I'll admit that I'm not a huge fan of poetry; I find poetry to be hard to access, too full of imagery and too short to be fulfilling. But Deanna challenged us to think about how poetry can be used across the curriculum to promote student growth. She gave us ten minutes to write our own poem, and included several criteria as guidance: 
- the title had to be either "The beauty of math is..." or "The problem with math is..."
- we couldn't include any numbers or figures
- the poem had to be 11 lines long
- we had to include at least one emotion
- we had to include at least two colors

I was so struck by this assignment and by the work I created that I saved my poem that was written on the back of a scrap sheet of paper. Alas, in the shuffle of the past few weeks I can no longer find it, but I'll do my best to recreate it here. 

At the time, I was at the tail end of an absolutely beautiful pregnancy that had been somewhat marred by over-cautious doctors: the baby was measuring small and while all of our tests came back reassuringly positive they insisted on monitoring me very closely and moving me into the "at risk" category, which only stressed me out further. I left every weekly checkup in tears. 

The problem with math is
that statistics don't have feelings.
They can't say
whether my baby will be
happy or sad;
brown or white—
so don't measure me
against a bell curve
or worry me unnecessarily,
because the life inside me
is just perfect. 





17 comments:

  1. Creating a personal tie with the students and the material is extremely helpful.

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  2. Creating a personal tie with the students and the material is extremely helpful.

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  3. Simply Beautiful!
    I also really like the connection to Piaget's comment that the learner has to be ready to learn.

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  4. Congratulations!!! Thank you for sharing your experiences with all of us.

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  5. I remember you reading this poem that day and I thought it was beautiful... and summed up everything that is problematic with a lot of prenatal care.

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  6. Amazing Journey you've been on and Aha moment. Congrats on the baby!!

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  7. I agree with your aha moment, I think that poetry can be a beautiful outlet

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  8. Very powerful--- shows how poetry can be useful in so many ways

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  9. This is lovely. What a beautiful thing to share. Thank you, and congrats!

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  10. beautiful poem..its important to remember each student/child is uniquely brilliant

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  11. You make a great point about the function of writing as a means of catharsis. Our writing depends on our emotional state of being and can vary greatly across our lives.

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  12. Love the poem that you wrote. Beautiful.

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  13. Love the poem that you wrote. Beautiful.

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  14. Phenomenal reflection on the importance of considering context when we are introducing students to new literary mediums. Your poem is beautiful, and it is really striking that it came from someone who "doesn't like poetry."

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  15. Way to hit home... "kids need to be ready to learn"! We tend to dismiss that fact too quickly. Great post, and congrats on your beautiful baby girl!

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