They also appreciate the idea that someone is interested in their ideas and artistic abilities as well as their math skills. This avenue of communication is mutually beneficial to the students and professor and often leads to a stronger commitment and effort by the students. To provide an unusual form of communication between the student and professor. To add variety to the class through an assignment which is not typical for that class, i.e. writing poetry in a math class. To enable students to share their concerns and thoughts about their anxieties about the course or course content.
Students write a poem using course content as the basis instead of personal observations.
Create a class poetry book composed of the individual entries. Use the poems as a basis for advising or counseling students who indicate they are having problems with the class. Students read their poems in pairs or larger groups. Working in pairs or larger groups compose a new poem. Groups organize poems by topic structure or some other criteria as if they were editing a poetry book.