Raisse-ing in Mathematics

At first a little skeptical about teaching reading in high school mathematics classes, I wondered how we would have time to meet the required topics and teach literacy. I have changed my mind and decided that we have no other choice. Our children, many, sad as it is, cannot read. Project Raisse is addressing this state of affairs. While researching since our last study group, I have found some good sites that emphasize teaching with original historical sources in mathematics, but not just reading the history and biographies, but my particular preference is using analysis of some of the “great problems in mathematics”. One website suggested examining the evolution of certain “great problems”. Let the students use their own “discovery methods”. The students should then write about the mathematical details of the problems, in their historical context, and their thoughts while trying their own problem solving techniques. These writing assignments should help in understanding as well as provide the much needed writing and reading time.