Students had previously heard an anecdotal story about Archimedes. Students were shown the thinking process on how the Power Point was created, starting with a list of ideas and using a graphic organizer to display the main ideas to go into the presentation. With this introduction, students understood what was expected for the end product. Students were given some choices of mathematician stories to read.
Students read and discuss stories in partners.
Guided practice lesson on how to complete a graphic organizer from a short story. Students read a short biography of Leonardo Finonacci. These were discussed and shared with the class. Ideas were expressed in complete sentences. Students worked independently to complete a graphic organizer for the mathematician they had chosen in step 2.