The Olympics: A Golden Opportunity for Literacy in a Math Classroom

I am a unique breed: current eighth grade algebra teacher and veteran sixth grade math, reading, language arts, and science teacher.  Being such, I have a perspective as an algebra teacher that is a bit different from my colleagues who come from a more traditional math-focused background.  As many teachers are now aware, the Common Core State Standards emphasize that all teachers should integrate literacy activities into their content areas.  In math specifically, the Standards for Mathematical Practices provide the perfect opportunity for this.  Gone are the days of simple math computations; instead students must construct viable arguments for their solutions and justify their problem solving process.  The math/reading/writing teacher combo in me just loves this!  However, to many math teachers, this can be a very intimidating task.

I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with two educational consultants this year, ReLeah Lent and Katherine McKnight.  These ladies are right there with me as huge proponents of integrating literacy into all content areas.  Our conversations have revolved around the merits of having students read articles related to math and write about their opinions, as well as using mathematical computations to argue a point in response to a controversial question.

Cue the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi, and you have the perfect opportunity for students to read, write, and talk math.  Olympic.org, USA Today, Live Science, and the New York Times among many others were great places to find graphs, infographics, and articles related to the Olympics.

There is so much math to be done!  Students can find measures of central tendency for race results, and more importantly, argue which is the most accurate representation of the data (and why they believe so!). Using these resources, students can look at preliminary runs and calculate probabilities of various athletes taking home the gold, or they can determine whether or not the Olympics provide a "fair" opportunity for a variety of athletes to participate.
They can convert the cost of tickets to the closing ceremonies from Russian rubles to US dollars, compare this to the cost of other Olympic game events, create a travel itinerary, and create a persuasive argument as to why we should have taken (or not) a school-wide trip to the Olympic games.  (Add a fundraising component onto this field trip idea, and that makes it all the more exciting!)  I also had my kids participate in a Fantasy Olympic league to further spread the "Olympic fever".  (Don't worry, there was no money exchanged over the course of the Olympics, only cute hand-made certificates to the winners.)  Again, there were multiple opportunities to talk about probability, measures of central tendency, and graphical representations of the teams' progress.

While the Olympics provided a perfect backdrop to immerse my students in authentic math tasks while also incorporating literacy into my classroom, I was reminded that I can do this kind of stuff any time!  Yes, these types of activities require time in preparation as well as in class.  And, I do admit that from time to time, the literacy activities I use with my kids may stray from the curriculum standards so many of us fear we won't be able to squeeze in over the course of the school year.  However, in my humble opinion my students are getting a well-rounded and meaningful mathematical experience.  I am creating an environment in which talking about and doing math is valued.  Students are learning to use math to their advantage to draw conclusions, and they are becoming more articulate in explaining their thought process and reasoning.  Most importantly, I am coaching these kids to become problem solvers who use all of their resources and persevere through difficult situations.  THESE are the qualities that will stick with kids for the rest of their lives.  And while I do teach my students a quadratic equations song that they still sing years later when they come back to visit me, I know it is the former skills that serve them well in their day-to-day lives.