Mathematics as life: Children's responses to literature

Abstract

This teacher research study gave me an opportunity to examine how my sixth grade classroom learning environment changed over time to support students' responses to literature across sign systems, and to develop collaboration among adults and students. Specifically, it looked at the ways in which students made mathematical connections in informal discussions as part of class read aloud experiences and how they used mathematics to communicate responses to literature. Over the course of a year I gathered data primarily by audio taping as I read to the class and the following total class discussions. I video taped presentations of literature groups. These literature groups responded to the read alouds using multiple sign systems which reflected and further developed their understandings of the texts. I also kept a reflective teaching journal and field notes throughout the year. The data analyses included a description of the classroom over the year, a re-creation of journal entries between me and collaborative others involved in the Holocaust study, and a qualitative analysis of the mathematics talk, "math talk," generated in the classroom. Math talk was present in my talk and the students' talk as well. The students' math talk showed that mathematics is used as students respond to literature in informal read aloud discussions and subsequent literature presentations.