How to Participate in the Math Performance Festival

IDEAS FOR TEACHERS

(Click here for more ideas and sample performances!)

How to Write and Perform a Math Poem

Write a math poem

• Pick a math topic (like probability, division, measurement, fractions, or algebra).
• Make a list of words and ideas that relate to your topic.
• Write metaphors and similes about your topic using your list of words or ideas. Metaphors and similes link two things that are not usually connected but do share some common elements.
• Explain your metaphors and similes (see the poem on the right).
• Write a poem using your metaphors and similes and their explanations.

Perform your Poem

• Illustrate the poem with your own artwork.
• Create a dramatic reading of your poem.
• Use Story Telling software, like Photo Story, Movie Maker, iMovie or iPhoto, to create a multimedia performance of your poem.
• Create a song based on the poem.

How to Interview a Math Concept 

Prepare for the Interview

• Pick a math concept (like the number n, the fraction ¼, the Venn diagram, the triangle, or the hexagon)
• Make a knowledge web for your topic.
  • Use a large, blank sheet of paper
  • Write your concept in the centre
  • All around your concept, write all the things you know and can find out about it (use your textbook; use Google; ask your peers)
  • Then write as many other things that your concept connects to (for example, the hexagon is found in beehives and in floor tiles; where else?)
• Make a list of interview questions and possible answers, using the ideas from your knowledge web. Good interviews offer some controversy and surprise. For example, here's a possible Q&A for the hexagon:

  Hexagon, is it true that you are a honey thief?
  Of course not. Where did you get such a crazy idea?
  Tell us the truth, Hexagon. Why have you been spending so much time in beehives?

Write your Interview

• Sequence your questions in an order that tells a good story.
• Refine your Q&A.
  • Be concise in your questions and answers.
  • Use expressive language.
  • Show humour and emotion.
• Test your interview with a friend.
  • Act it out.
  • Reverse roles and try it again.
  • What works well? What needs improvement?

Perform your Interview

• Create a dramatic reading of your interview.
• Record a radio show performance.
• Write your interview as a comic strip, with appropriate pictures/expressions for different parts of the interview.
• Use Story Telling software, like Photo Story, Movie Maker, iMovie or iPhoto, to create a multimedia performance of your interview.