Synopsis

Oral Storytelling and Teaching Mathematics contains two case studies of teachers telling epic oral stories to teach math to elementary and middle school students. The book also includes theoretical discussions of essential elements of oral storytelling, multicultural education, how oral storytelling can help children who have difficulty learning mathematics, and mathematical problem solving. This book significantly extends two pedagogical movements that have recently influenced mathematics teaching: the use of physical manipulatives and visual imagery and the use of children’s literature. It takes a giant leap in leaving behind the written word for oral language and integrating serious mathematical explorations with fantasy.

Biography

Michael Stephen Schiro was born in the slums of Washington, DC. During his teenage years he traveled extensively around the world. In the 1960’s he worked for school desegration in North Carolina. In the 1970’s he worked to improve urban education in Lowell, Massachusetts. He has taught at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. He received his bachelorate from Tufts University and his doctorate from Harvard University. He was chair of the Department of Teacher Education and School Administration at Boston College in the 1980’s. He specializes in mathematics education, and has taught courses in mathematics education, curriculum theory, computer education, literacy, and multicultural education at Boston College since 1974. He has published eleven books on such diverse topics as Integrating Children's Literature and Mathematics in the Classroom: Children as Meaning Makers, Problem Solvers, and Literary Critics, Mega-Fun Math Games, Curriculum for Better Schools: The Great Ideological Debate, and Tan and the Shape Changer. He has two children, Stephanie and Arthur, for whom he has created and to whom he has told hundreds of stories.