Using Newspaper Articles in Math Class

Written By Caroline Rossi

In an ideal scenario, I would have time in my classes to read and discuss relevant newspaper articles each week. In reality, I can never seem to find time to incorporate them regularly in my curriculum. In AP Calculus, I do find time to read relevant excerpts from Infinite Powers and a couple news articles related to logistic growth and the spread of Covid as well as airplane overhead bin space and optimization. That’s about it though. In my Algebra II class, I’ve incorporated one article on the return of the SAT in college admissions requirements. This was eye-opening to the students and also relevant, since many of these sophomores are gearing up to take the SATs within the next few months.

I subscribe to a print and digital copy of The Wall Street Journal, a newspaper that I highly enjoy reading for its neutral, factual-based coverage on things ranging from current events to travel to finance to personal wellness to education. Although the digital version is convenient and accessible anywhere, including my phone, I find that nothing compares to a paper copy to hold and flip through as I read. Plus, it’s nice giving my eyes a break from looking at a screen.

Any article related to the college admissions process, mathematics, education, societal issues facing adolescents, financial advice, AI, job outlook, and other related fields gets cut out of my paper copy of the newspaper and either laminated and taped to my ‘newspaper wall’ in my classroom or stored in a bin in my house (I have always loved saving great articles from newspaper and magazines, something I have done since I was in college!)

Here are some recent articles I saved and uploaded to my teacher website (which serves as a reference for parents of my students as well as my own students). Some of these were hung in my classroom. Once the AP exam is over, I hope to incorporate more articles to share with my seniors to help them prepare for life after high school.

Happy reading!

Caroline Rossi
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