Teaching Math With Examples

Some teachers think that there’s little to say about teaching with examples – after all, everyone uses them. But here are just some of the questions you might have about teaching with worked examples: How do we introduce an example? What do we ask students to do when studying a solution? Should a solution be presented all at once or revealed step-by-step? After we study an example, what comes next? Does it matter if the solution is presented as if from a fictional student, a real student in class, or from the teacher? How do we help students move from understanding someone else’s ideas towards using it on their own to solve problems? How do we write a solution in a clear way, that students can learn from? When is a good time to offer a worked example? When is it better to let students try a problem? Are worked examples more useful for some mathematical content than others? This book will answer all of these questions. In some cases, research offers answers. Other questions represent gaps in the research literature and the book offers solutions arrived at through experience and trial-and-error and the author’s own process of classroom problem solving. Welcome to the world of teaching with examples!

Some teachers think that there’s little to say about teaching with examples – after all, everyone uses them. But here are just some of the questions you might have about teaching with worked examples: How do we introduce an example? What do we ask students to do when studying a solution? Should a solution be presented all at once or revealed step-by-step? After we study an example, what comes next? Does it matter if the solution is presented as if from a fictional student, a real student in class, or from the teacher? How do we help students move from understanding someone else’s ideas towards using it on their own to solve problems? How do we write a solution in a clear way, that students can learn from? When is a good time to offer a worked example? When is it better to let students try a problem? Are worked examples more useful for some mathematical content than others? This book will answer all of these questions. In some cases, research offers answers. Other questions represent gaps in the research literature and the book offers solutions arrived at through experience and trial-and-error and the author’s own process of classroom problem solving. Welcome to the world of teaching with examples!

This new book is an exciting follow-up to the authors’ bestsellers on differentiated math instruction, Good Questions and More Good Questions. Eyes on Math is a unique teaching resource that provides engaging, full-color graphics and pictures with text showing teachers how to use each image to stimulate mathematical teaching conversations around key K–8 concepts. Teachers using the book can download the images for projection onto classroom white boards or screens. The questions and answers will help both students and teachers look more deeply and see the math behind the math! For each of more than 120 visuals, the text identifies the key math concept and the Common Core State Standard being addressed and then provides teachers with: Mathematical background and context.Questions to use with students to lead the instructional conversation.Expected answers and explanations of why each question is important.Follow-up extensions to solidify and assess student understanding. This book will be useful to a broad range of teachers who will find new ways to clarify concepts that students find difficult. It can be used as a resource to prepare teachers for the higher mathematical thinking requirements of the CCSS Mathematical Practices. It will also be an invaluable resource for teachers working with students with low reading ability, including English language learners and special education students. “This book provides a way for both teachers and students to get used to talking about mathematics in nonthreatening, open-ended ways. The author’s friendly explanations of the mathematical ideas the pictures are intended to surface give teachers who are less confident about the conceptual aspects of mathematics the support they need to facilitate less-scripted mathematical discourse with their students.” —Lucy West, education consultant Praise for Good Questions and More Good Questions! “A must for any educator who is serious about reaching more students more often and achieving more positive results.” —Resources for the Mathematics Educator “A valuable book for mathematics teachers, teacher educators, and faculty involved in differentiated instruction.” —Choice “A great resource.” —Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School “I highly recommend this user-friendly resource for all mathematics teachers.” —Teaching Children Mathematics

Make Rich Math Instruction Come to Life Online In an age when distance learning has become part of the "new normal," educators know that rich remote math teaching involves more than direct instruction, online videos, and endless practice problems on virtual worksheets. Using both personal experience and those of teachers in real K-12 online classrooms, distance learning mathematics veteran Theresa Wills translates all we know about research-based, equitable, rigorous face-to-face mathematics instruction into an online venue. This powerful guide equips math teachers to: Build students’ agency, identity, and strong math communities Promote mathematical thinking, collaboration, and discourse Incorporate rich mathematics tasks and assign meaningful homework and practice Facilitate engaging online math instruction using virtual manipulatives and other concrete learning tools Recognize and address equity and inclusion challenges associated with distance learning Assess mathematics learning from a distance With examples across the grades, links to tutorials and templates, and space to reflect and plan, Teaching Math at a Distance offers the support, clarity, and inspiration needed to guide teachers through teaching math remotely without sacrificing deep learning and academic growth.

"This book is a game changer! Strengths-Based Teaching and Learning in Mathematics: 5 Teaching Turnarounds for Grades K- 6 goes beyond simply providing information by sharing a pathway for changing practice. . . Focusing on our students’ strengths should be routine and can be lost in the day-to-day teaching demands. A teacher using these approaches can change the trajectory of students’ lives forever. All teachers need this resource! Connie S. Schrock Emporia State University National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics President, 2017-2019 NEW COVID RESOURCES ADDED: A Parent’s Toolkit to Strengths-Based Learning in Math is now available on the book’s companion website to support families engaged in math learning at home. This toolkit provides a variety of home-based activities and games for families to engage in together. Your game plan for unlocking mathematics by focusing on students’ strengths. We often evaluate student thinking and their work from a deficit point of view, particularly in mathematics, where many teachers have been taught that their role is to diagnose and eradicate students’ misconceptions. But what if instead of focusing on what students don’t know or haven’t mastered, we identify their mathematical strengths and build next instructional steps on students’ points of power? Beth McCord Kobett and Karen S. Karp answer this question and others by highlighting five key teaching turnarounds for improving students’ mathematics learning: identify teaching strengths, discover and leverage students’ strengths, design instruction from a strengths-based perspective, help students identify their points of power, and promote strengths in the school community and at home. Each chapter provides opportunities to stop and consider current practice, reflect, and transfer practice while also sharing · Downloadable resources, activities, and tools · Examples of student work within Grades K–6 · Real teachers’ notes and reflections for discussion It’s time to turn around our approach to mathematics instruction, end deficit thinking, and nurture each student’s mathematical strengths by emphasizing what makes them each unique and powerful.

Cats are out for a night on the town in this lively picture book about counting, dance, and music from Carline Stutson and Caldecott medalist Jon Klassen. From two cats waltzing to twenty cats in a conga line, dancing felines take to the streets, the fire escapes, and the rooftops in this charming concept picture book that is part counting and part introduction to music, dance, and rhythm. The short rhyming text makes it a perfect read-aloud treat, and with vivid illustrations from a breakout DreamWorks animator, readers and listeners alike will be thrilled to see what happens one night on Easy Street when a pair of cats start to groove to the beat.

Using strengths-based approaches to support development in mathematics It’s time to re-imagine what’s possible and celebrate the brilliance multilingual learners bring to today’s classrooms. Innovative teaching strategies can position these learners as leaders in mathematics. Yet, as the number of multilingual learners in North American schools grows, many teachers have not had opportunities to gain the competencies required to teach these learners effectively, especially in disciplines such as mathematics. Multilingual learners—historically called English Language Learners—are expected to interpret the meaning of problems, analyze, make conjectures, evaluate their progress, and discuss and understand their own approaches and the approaches of their peers in mathematics classrooms. Thus, language plays a vital role in mathematics learning, and demonstrating these competencies in a second (or third) language is a challenging endeavor. Based on best practices and the authors’ years of research, this guide offers practical approaches that equip grades K-8 teachers to draw on the strengths of multilingual learners, partner with their families, and position these learners for success. Readers will find: • A focus on multilingual students as leaders • A strength-based approach that draws on students’ life experiences and cultural backgrounds • An emphasis on maintaining high expectations for learners’ capacity for mastering rigorous content • Strategies for representing concepts in different formats • Stop and Think questions throughout and reflection questions at the end of each chapter • Try It! Implementation activities, student work examples, and classroom transcripts With case studies and activities that provide a solid foundation for teachers’ growth and exploration, this groundbreaking book will help teachers and teacher educators engage in meaningful, humanized mathematics instruction.

"Good Questions" - or open-ended questions - promote students' mathematical thinking, understanding, and proficiency. By asking careful, purposeful questions, teachers create dynamic learning environments, help students make sense of math, and unravel misconceptions. This valuable book includes a wide variety of good questions for classroom use and offers teachers tips on how to createopen-ended questions of their own.