This week I read the article “Can zombies write mathematical poetry? Mathematical poetry as a model for humanistic mathematics” by Gizem Karaali (2014).
What are the three most important things that make us human? Hint: Both math and poetry embody these attributes
The answer: cognition, consciousness, and creativity.
STOP - What other attributes would be considered unique to the human species? Is the author correct in stating that the combination of these three things are what makes our species special?
The author argues that while there are certainly many examples of these attributes found in nature, humans are the only species that exhibit all three. Math and poetry are connected in that they both require thinking with the mind and the heart. A relentless pursuit of the artist’s craft, a natural intuition and curiosity, and a creative spirit are also necessary. This connection between the two art forms, and the author’s own journey into the world of mathematical poetry are the focus of this article.
When thinking about mathematics, most people fail to notice the creative aspect. They tend to think of the traditional school mathematics, in which students rotely memorize and replicate others ideas. It’s cold, unemotional, and lacking in human qualities. However, mathematics is filled with novel ideas, creative problem solving and beauty. Karaali argues that poetry is a natural vehicle for expressing and showcasing this humanistic side of mathematics.
STOP - While I appreciate the author’s stance on both mathematics and poetry. I personally find it difficult to imagine myself embracing poetry as a means of expressing my mathematical understanding. I find poetry daunting and confusing. I always find myself wishing the poet would just say what they mean and skip the figurative language. I just can’t imagine also adding math into that mix.
Also included in the article, is the author’s work in the field of humanizing mathematics. From starting a journal. The Journal of Humanistic Mathematics released its first issue in January 2011. In addition to the journal, the author has collaborated with other mathematical poets to organize poetry readings, and has taught several college level courses that bring math and poetry together.
Final Thoughts - Do you enjoy poetry? If so, can you see yourself embracing mathematical poetry and incorporating it into your classroom?
Activity
I chose to try writing a PH4 poem. The subject of my poem is my family cat, Smoky. I tried to pick 4 words that represented both his behaviour and his personality, while also featuring alliteration with all 4 words beginning with the letter “S”. I found that coming up with the 4 words was by far the hardest part of this activity. The actual braiding of the words was relatively easy given the predictability of the pattern. I can see this activity working well in a cross-curricular approach with an English course. There are so many ways to differentiate the complexity of the activity depending on whether the writer uses words or phrases in the first line.
A Predator in the House
Courntey,
ReplyDeleteWhat a pleasure it was to read your thinking!
You wrote: "I personally find it difficult to imagine myself embracing poetry as a means of expressing my mathematical understanding."
I can relate to this, Courtney, and I am a poetry / literary person.
On expressing oneself mathematically, Radokovic et al (2018) suggest that poetry shouldn't be treated as a way to assess student's math understanding. In other words, the uses of poetry extend beyond self-expression; they argue that students can explore math concepts through reading of poetry, collectively sharing on the concepts found in the poems, followed by writing, sharing, and rewriting the poems (p. 5). It's through moving through all the phases of this process that students engage with and develop understanding of the concepts. I think this is most suitable to older students but I'm thinking through how I could adapt this for students with emergent literacy.
On finding poetry daunting, I've been thinking that just as Su suggests that mathematics is a human right that maybe we should treat the arts that way too. Our school system seems to be designed to stream us into math-people and not-math-people. Conversely, it streams us into arts-people or not-arts-people. But, like math, might the arts be a human right? Luckily for me, I had a phenomenal instructor in my Math for Teachers course which I only took because it was required. She showed me the connections between math and the beauty of tesselation in Alambra tiling. She introduced me to permutations in the novels of Samuel Beckett. If it weren't for her giving me this entry point into math I don't think I'd be here right now working on my Masters and commenting on this blog. Do we have a duty to understand the connections so we can provide this 'in' for the students who need it? Maybe not for poetry, per se, but for some kind of artistic endeavour? I'm biased towards yes seeing as how I benefitted from it. :)
On adding math to the mix of parsing out meaning from text - I think this is a challenge whether we're poetically inclined or not. In order to make poetic math meaningful a lot of front-loading and pre-teaching needs to be done and I'm not convinced it's applicable to emergent readers and writers. Though, I think we can create a kind of scale starting with playing with form and structures (limericks, sonnets, haikus, rhyming patterns) and deepening into more conceptual explorations through metaphors and such. I do find that some mathematical structures (like the PH4) can fall a little heavily on the the structure side to the detriment of meaning. Still, it seems like a good exercise to play with words to find the most impactful sequencing and structure. So, the mathematical structure could be used as a tool for (pre-)writing though, this seems to hit literacy goals more than math. Maybe the mathematical structures, in this instance, can be integrated into language arts so that students see how math can be applied to other subjects rather than treating poetry as a 'math' exploration in its own right.
Finally, I love your alliterative poem! Those are great, evocative words.
HI Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI love your candor when reflecting on this week's poetry challenge. (I always say challenge, because the activities and readings often challenge me to think outside of my comfort zone).
When you wrote "I find poetry daunting and confusing. I always find myself wishing the poet would just say what they mean and skip the figurative language" resonated with me...but in a different way. I grew up in a household spoken with a mix of Japanese and English. I struggle with Language, both written and spoken. I am constantly correcting myself, and continually wonder whether "what I meant to say" is what was spoken or written. One thing I like about poetry, is that the reader can have a completely different connection than what the writer intended. Radakovic, N., Jagger, S., & Jao, L. (2018) stated the same reasoning even when including mathematical topics in poems. At first what they thought of as disappointment, was actually inspiring. So, I like the idea of poetry in a sense that students can play with words and realize that words can have more than one meaning. I like the idea of using math through words to help those students feel a different connection to math especially if their connection to math has always been a daunting one.
I love your alliterated poem. That brings the PH4 to an entirely new level! Well done! I think I would like to try this poem with my K/1 class (although probably outside with sidewalk chalk). I think they would enjoy the pattern, spatial orientation, and the play that the words have with each other. I don't necessarily think they will have a deeper understanding of the "word play" but they will definitely have a connection to math through play which they will thoroughly enjoy.
I also find poetry extremely challenging and had difficulties creating my own piece this week. However, working through this process reminded me of my students who feel the same uncomfortable feeling when given mathematical ideas. I love how you said, "mathematics is filled with novel ideas, creative problem solving and beauty." I am curious how the idea of embedding poetry within mathematics could help those students who struggle with their discomfort with mathematics feel more comfortable when looking at the ideas from a more comfortable format, such as poetry.
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