Yesterday, I spent an hour and a half waiting in a doctor’s office. The up side is that I had plenty of uninterrupted time to get a good look at Oral Storytelling and Teaching Mathematics: Pedagogical and Multicultural Perspectives by Michael Stephen Schiro with Doris Lawson. Sage Publications published OSTATM in 2006. Mr. Schiro, once Chair of the Department of Teacher Education at Boston College, is currently professor of mathematics at that institution.
I got a used copy from Barnes and Noble for $30. It can sell for $60 when it’s new. The book is an explanation of how two epic stories, one entitled "The Wizard’s Tale" and the second called “The Egypt Story", were used in Doris Lawson’s math classes when she was a fourth grade and a sixth grade teacher. Epic stories are very long stories told over a period of time. Each story lasted about eleven class periods.
Mr. Schiro, the author of Ms. Lawson’s stories, is very careful to explain why storytelling is important in teaching and particularly why long-term or epic stories are particularly effective. He describes each unit clearly and in detail. The final chapters contain information and studies supporting using this type of storytelling in a mathematics classroom and it benefit to different school age populations.
A CD accompanies the book. The CD includes the complete text of the two stories plus all additional material needed to do the stories with a class.
The book is a great affirmation of the importance of storytelling in school, with its emphasis on teaching math. I found the text heavy to wade through, however, because of its completeness. Because I have done some work with my friend Rita, a sixth and seventh grade math teacher, I skipped to the parts that I felt would interest her. The CD, in particular, brings the whole picture together. It is very approachable and very readable. When I share this concept with Rita, I will probably send her the CD and talk about the rest as needed.
Last year, I told several Halloween stories to Rita’s classes, and we worked math problems into the stories. Mr. Schiro would say, I think, that the experience could be improved by creating one long story in which characters are revealed and the plot evolves and time is allowed for more involvement with the project. As a storyteller, I would love such a collaboration. Oral Storytelling and Teaching Mathematics, however, is written for a classroom teacher to do it all.
Mr. Schiro’s ideas remind me of the big stories in the Montessori classrooms. Those stories are almost biblical in their presentation, and the curriculum and manipulative materials are built around them. I have only seen those stories presented once or twice. I was a preschool kindergarten teacher, and those stories don’t come into play until the Primary grades, but they are used all the way up through Middle School. The stories are so critical to that curriculum, I wonder how the teachers see them. Are they magical beginnings or are they something to be endured because they are dictated. I’m wondering because I know they were told each year, but I don’t remember any fan fare on the days of their telling.
Jan.6 08- Here's a comment on the book by my teacher friend Rita
I've looked over the book, but there was no way I could plow through and read it all. The CD is nice in that it gives teachers the opportunity to easily copy the basic stories and lessons.
I feel the book does offer practical applications of math concepts via the stories. The typical word problems normally offered in math classes don't engage students because they're simply snipets. Longer stories do tend to draw students in and make them feel part of the storyline. These types of stories would help kids not only to remember the plot and characters from day to day, but they'd also motivate students to want to solve the characters' problems. I feel it would work in a classroom because the students, especially the younger ones, would care about the characters and want to help them through each dilemma.
As far as the actual book is concerned, I feel it's dry, redundant, and not reader-friendly in the parts where the theory is offered. It's a good idea, but I wanted the authors to get to the point and stick to it! Teachers already know most of the information they were trying to impart in the theory portion!
