Connie Rivera, an HSE teacher in Connecticut has created a unit to explore mass incarceration with adult education students using an instructional routine called “Slow Reveal Graphs”.

Slow reveal graphs refers to a teaching practice of stripping layers off of a graph and then asking students what they notice, what they wonder, and what relationships they see as you add the layers back on. They are a great way to help students learn to read graphs and focus on the overall narrative/story of the graph. This skill is especially important for HSE students because so many of the HSE graph interpretation questions students face require them to make inferences and answer questions about the overall implications of a graph or chart.

The unit is guided by four essential questions. (1) How do graphs tell stories?, (2) How can you represent a relationship between quantities?, (3) How can a visual representation be used to predict, influence, or make decisions?, and (4) What does is mean for something to be disproportionate (or out of proportion)?

The mathematics covered in this unit prepare students for their HSE exams, but more importantly they increase students’ ability to interpret the data and statistics that are used in society and our everyday lives. Being able to recognize when data sets are out of proportion and to understand what that means goes so far in helping students disrupt unjust narratives and be more informed citizens and consumers of statistics.

Connie’s unit includes:

• A Unit Plan
• Four graphs, each looking at an aspect of mass incarceration (International Rates of Incarceration, Incarceration for Drug Offenses, Lifetime Likelihood of Imprisonment for US Residents Born in 2001, and US Prison Population by Offense). Connie has peeled away the layers of each graph and has shared slides with the progressions she used to “rebuild” each graph.
• Additional readings and additional data
• Follow-up questions and activities.
• A final project where students create and present their own graph and narrative designed to reveal a social injustice through a proportional comparison.

This is a powerful activity that is ready to be used in any and every adult numeracy and ABE/HSE classroom. Highly recommended.

You might also check out http://slowrevealgraphs.com:

To learn more about using slow reveal graphs with your students.

Other materials by Connie Rivera