Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You'd Had

Author: Tracy Zager
Publisher: Stenhouse Publishers
ISBN: 157110996X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 394

Book Description
Readers, be warned: you are about to fall in love. Tracy writes, "Good math teaching begins with us." With those six words, she invites you on a journey through this most magnificent book of stories and portraits...This book turns on its head the common misconception of mathematics as a black-and-white discipline and of being good at math as entailing ease, speed, and correctness. You will find it full of color, possibility, puzzles, and delight...Let yourself be drawn in. Elham Kazemi, professor, math education, University of Washington While mathematicians describe mathematics as playful, beautiful, creative, and captivating, many students describe math class as boring, stressful, useless, and humiliating. In Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You'd Had, Tracy Zager helps teachers close this gap by making math class more like mathematics. Tracy spent years with highly skilled math teachers in a diverse range of settings and grades. You'll find this book jam-packed with new thinking from these vibrant classrooms. You'll grapple with big ideas: How is taking risks inherent to mathematics? How do mathematicians balance intuition and proof? How can teachers value both productive mistakes and precision? You'll also find dozens of practical teaching techniques you can try in your classroom right away--strategies to stimulate students to connect ideas; rich tasks that encourage students to wonder, generalize, conjecture, and persevere; routines to teach students how to collaborate. All teachers can move toward increasingly authentic, delightful, robust mathematics teaching and learning for themselves and their students. This important book helps us develop instructional techniques that will make the math classes we teach so much better than the math classes we took.

Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You'd Had

Author: Tracy Johnston Zager
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1003839517
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 393

Book Description
Ask mathematicians to describe mathematics and they' ll use words like playful, beautiful, and creative. Pose the same question to students and many will use words like boring, useless, and even humiliating. Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You' d Had, author Tracy Zager helps teachers close this gap by making math class more like mathematics. Zager has spent years working with highly skilled math teachers in a diverse range of settings and grades and has compiled those' ideas from these vibrant classrooms into' this game-changing book. Inside you' ll find: ' How to Teach Student-Centered Mathematics:' Zager outlines a problem-solving approach to mathematics for elementary and middle school educators looking for new ways to inspire student learning Big Ideas, Practical Application:' This math book contains dozens of practical and accessible teaching techniques that focus on fundamental math concepts, including strategies that simulate connection of big ideas; rich tasks that encourage students to wonder, generalize, hypothesize, and persevere; and routines to teach students how to collaborate Key Topics for Elementary and Middle School Teachers:' Becoming the Math Teacher You Wish You' d Had' offers fresh perspectives on common challenges, from formative assessment to classroom management for elementary and middle school teachers No matter what level of math class you teach, Zager will coach you along chapter by chapter. All teachers can move towards increasingly authentic and delightful mathematics teaching and learning. This important book helps develop instructional techniques that will make the math classes we teach so much better than the math classes we took.

Which One Doesn't Belong?

Author: Christopher Danielson
Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing
ISBN: 1580899447
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 40

Book Description
Talking math with your child is simple and even entertaining with this better approach to shapes! Written by a celebrated math educator, this innovative inquiry encourages critical thinking and sparks memorable mathematical conversations. Children and their parents answer the same question about each set of four shapes: "Which one doesn't belong?" There's no one right answer--the important thing is to have a reason why. Kids might describe the shapes as squished, smooshed, dented, or even goofy. But when they justify their thinking, they're talking math! Winner of the Mathical Book Prize for books that inspire children to see math all around them. "This is one shape book that will both challenge readers' thinking and encourage them to think outside the box."--Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review

The Joy of X

Author: Steven Henry Strogatz
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547517653
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 333

Book Description
A delightful tour of the greatest ideas of math, showing how math intersects with philosophy, science, art, business, current events, and everyday life, by an acclaimed science communicator and regular contributor to the "New York Times."

Moving the Rock

Author: Grant Lichtman
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 111940441X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Book Description
Advance Praise for Moving the Rock “The future comes at us fast — which means school reformers don’t have time to wait. They need real tools in real time. That’s why Moving the Rock is so important. Grant Lichtman has guidance for anyone — teachers, parents, administrators, government officials — intent on helping young people succeed not ‘someday,’ but today.” — Daniel H. Pink, best-selling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind “Grant Lichtman’s book is a clear and comprehensive guide to the “what" and the “how” of educational transformation. Organized around essential levers for change, it is a must-read for anyone who wants to make a difference in our schools.” —Tony Wagner, Harvard Ilab Expert in Residence, and best-selling author of The Global Achievement Gap and Creating Innovators” “This book gives me hope for a brighter future in education. Despite the dark clouds imposed by misguided policies, Grant Lichtman diligently tells stories of grass-roots innovations in the classrooms and schools all over the world. Moving the Rock is an inspiring call to action for all educators.” —Yong Zhao, Ph.D., Foundation Distinguished Professor, School of Education, University of Kansas “If you have children, or teach children, or want our children to succeed, this is a must-read book. Grant Lichtman throws down the challenge for all of us; that WE can change education, and he shows us just how successful schools everywhere are overcoming change-killing inertia in our schools.” —Todd Rose, best-selling author of The End of Average; Harvard University Moving the Rock: Seven Levers WE Can Press to Transform Educationgives educators, parents, administrators, students, and other stakeholders a clear paradigm for transforming our outmoded schools into schools that will help our children to meet the challenges of tomorrow. It’s no secret that our educational system is stuck. Moving the Rock shows the important roles all of us can play in un-sticking it by moving seven specific levers that will change the focus of education from what we teach to how we learn. Importantly, moving the levers is completely possible today, and in fact is already happening now in many schools. Drawing on research and extensive experience in the education community, Grant Lichtman outlines the seven essential levers that can profoundly change our schools so that we are teaching all our children how to learn, including • Creating the Demand for Better Schools • Building School-Community Learning Laboratories • Encouraging Open Access to Knowledge • Fixing How We Measure Student Success • Teaching the Teachers what They Really Need to Know • and more At the end of each of each chapter there are one or more challenges, ways that all of us can collectively turn the pioneering work of others into transformation for all our schools.

Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12

Author: Peter Liljedahl
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1544374844
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 454

Book Description
A thinking student is an engaged student Teachers often find it difficult to implement lessons that help students go beyond rote memorization and repetitive calculations. In fact, institutional norms and habits that permeate all classrooms can actually be enabling "non-thinking" student behavior. Sparked by observing teachers struggle to implement rich mathematics tasks to engage students in deep thinking, Peter Liljedahl has translated his 15 years of research into this practical guide on how to move toward a thinking classroom. Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K–12 helps teachers implement 14 optimal practices for thinking that create an ideal setting for deep mathematics learning to occur. This guide Provides the what, why, and how of each practice and answers teachers’ most frequently asked questions Includes firsthand accounts of how these practices foster thinking through teacher and student interviews and student work samples Offers a plethora of macro moves, micro moves, and rich tasks to get started Organizes the 14 practices into four toolkits that can be implemented in order and built on throughout the year When combined, these unique research-based practices create the optimal conditions for learner-centered, student-owned deep mathematical thinking and learning, and have the power to transform mathematics classrooms like never before.

What Successful Math Teachers Do, Grades 6-12

Author: Alfred S. Posamentier
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1452299862
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Book Description
The math teacher's go-to resource—now updated for the Common Core! What works in math and why has never been the issue; the research is all out there. Where teachers struggle is the “how.” That’s the big service What Successful Math Teachers Do provides. It’s a powerful portal to what the best research looks like in practice strategy by strategy—now aligned to both the Common Core and the NCTM Standards. For each of the book’s 80 strategies, the authors present A brief description A summary of supporting research The corresponding NCTM and Common Core Standards Classroom applications Possible pitfalls Recommended reading and research

The Well-Balanced Teacher

Author: Mike Anderson
Publisher: ASCD
ISBN: 1416612378
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 147

Book Description
You've probably heard the advice "put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others." This is true both in airplanes and in classrooms—you have to take care of yourself before you can help someone else. If teachers are stressed out and exhausted, how can they have the patience, positive energy, and enthusiasm to provide the best instruction for students? Author Mike Anderson asked that question as a teacher himself, and the answers he found form the basis of The Well-Balanced Teacher. He found that teachers need to take care of themselves in five key areas to keep themselves in shape to care for their students. In addition to paying proper attention to their basic needs for nutrition, hydration, sleep, exercise, and emotional and spiritual refreshment, teachers also need Belonging: Teachers need to feel positive connections with other people, both in school and outside school. Significance: Teachers want to know that they make a positive difference through the work they do. Positive engagement: When teachers enjoy their work, they have great energy and passion for their teaching. Balance: Healthy teachers set boundaries and create routines so that they can have rich lives both in the classroom and at home. Anderson devotes a chapter to each of these needs, describing in frank detail his own struggles and offering a multitude of practical tips to help readers find solutions that will work for them. When teachers find ways to take care of their own needs, they will be healthier and happier, and they will have the positive energy and stamina needed to help their students learn and grow into healthy adults themselves.

The Young Child and Mathematics, Third Edition

Author: Angela Chan Turrou
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781938113932
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 128

Book Description
Tap into the Power of Child-Led Math Teaching and Learning Everything a child does has mathematical value--these words are at the heart of this completely revised and updated third edition of The Young Child and Mathematics. Grounded in current research, this classic book focuses on how teachers working with children ages 3 to 6 can find and build on the math inherent in children's ideas in ways that are playful and intentional. This resource - Illustrates through detailed vignettes how math concepts can be explored in planned learning experiences as well as informal spaces - Highlights in-the-moment instructional decision-making and child-teacher interactions that meaningfully and dynamically support children in making math connections - Provides an overview of what children know about counting and operations, spatial relations, measurement and data, and patterns and algebra - Offers examples of informal documentation and assessment approaches that are embedded within classroom practice Deepen your understanding of how math is an integral part of your classroom all day, every day. Includes online video!

Math for Grownups

Author: Laura Laing
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1440526893
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 283

Book Description
Ever wish you'd paid more attention in math class? From third grade to senior year of high school, it went in one ear and out the other, didn't it? But now you're staring at the new washer and dryer, trying to figure out the percentage of sales tax on the purchase price. You multiply something by something, right? Or you're scratching your head, wondering how to compute the odds that your football team will take next Sunday's game. You're pretty sure that involved ratios. The problem is, you can't quite remember. Here you get an adult refresher and real-life context—with examples ranging from how to figure out how many shingles it takes to re-roof the garage to the formula for resizing Mom's tomato sauce recipe for your entire family. Forget higher calculus—you just need an open mind. And with this practical guide, math can stop being scary and start being useful.