Quantifying a Legacy

Scholar Coach Elizabeth Hunter at Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep modeled an assignment for the Reading Enrichment Program after the poem "Counting Descent" written by Clint Smith.  After reading the poem with a couple of Scholars in her caseload, she asked them to highlight any words related to math in the poem.  Then they discussed using math in poetry and challenged the assumption of math and literature not going well together.  Finally, after reading and discussing the poem, Scholars were asked to write a poem quantifying their life.  You can watch a video of Clint Smith performing "Counting Descent."  Following the video, you can read some of the poems the Scholars were asked to write.

Click on the video below to watch Clint Smith perform “Counting Descent”:

My Life in Numbers

I was born on the 7th month, 6th day, and 2003 years after Christ’s death. I am twice as old as my brother, which is the smallest in my family. My other brother is 5 years younger than me, but 2 years older than my smaller brother.

I wake up half past 6 on a regular school day, but 10 to 6 on a work day. I eat a small breakfast, 3 cookies and a 8oz. glass of milk.

It’s 2.4 miles to go to school from my house. It is 2.1 miles to my elementary school. How far is my elementary school to my current school? It is 0.3 miles.

2x+4=10,438 (as of 10/17/17) is the number of days I have been living for. How many days have I been alive for? 5217 days.

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Been alive for 14 years

A seventh of those years forgotten

Two seventh of those years fresh in my head

Previous friends divided by hundred miles

Family one less than my dad’s, two more than my mom’s

About 80% of my life was spent focusing on school

10% spent on sleep and the other spent on

trying to find what makes be happy

Trying an infinite amount of times to become better