The Housekeeper and the Professor

The first question I get when I tell students we are reading a novel in mathematics class goes something like this, "Mr. Cimato, this isn't English class, why are we reading?" There is typically agitation in their voice. They can hardly believe I would consider violating the sacred silos of education. Most mathematics classrooms subscribe to this theory, maintaining dutiful focus on the concepts they are tasked with. This game occurs in schools across the country, with teachers pretending only their subject exists, and students going along as to minimize the thought and effort required to succeed.

When our classrooms operate in this manner, we are making one of the biggest mistakes possible. We are tasked with bringing the real world into the classroom, integrating with technology, and making meaningful connections in our classrooms. While reading a book as part of a mathematics class isn't exactly ground-breaking, it provides a different access point for students, and ties together two unlikely subjects.

The post of this title, "The Housekeeper and the Professor" is a book by Yoko Ogawa. It takes place in Japan and tells the story of a housekeeper, her son and the housekeeper's client, a mathematics professor. The professor is anything but ordinary, an accident has crippled his short term memory, allowing him to only remember the prior 80 minutes. This part of the book is the hook, students are immediately drawn in on this rhetorical situation. What would my life look like if this happened to me? What challenges would I face? What would be advantageous about this?

Ogawa writes in such beautiful prose, the housekeeper has to introduce herself and start anew everyday with a man who can't remember her face. The professor uses mathematics as a way to break the awkwardness of the situation. The housekeeper, a poor mathematics student all her life, plays along to appease the the professor and hope to stay in his good graces. Along the way she realizes something most every mathematics student wishes. She can ask him to clarify certain topics, can ask him to explain examples repeatedly, and doesn't feel the wave of embarrassment from not catching onto a topic straightaway.

Many students identify with the housekeeper because they also struggle and are maybe hesitant to ask for help when their peers are already moving ahead. One of the advantages of reading this book is the professor actually teaches and lays out the mathematics. The levels oscillate from simple operations to highly complex mathematics.

I have found reading this book with struggling students has produced great results. Students want to learn and use the mathematics from the book. Students also enjoy the story which makes for excellent literary discussion.