Transforming Mathematics Instruction

This book surveys and examines different approaches and practices that contribute to the changes in mathematics instruction, including (1) innovative approaches that bring direct changes in classroom instructional practices, (2) curriculum reforms that introduce changes in content and requirements in classroom instruction, and (3) approaches in mathematics teacher education that aim to improve teachers’ expertise and practices. It also surveys relevant theory and methodology development in studying and assessing mathematics instruction. Classroom instruction is commonly seen as one of the key factors contributing to students’ learning of mathematics, but much remains to be understood about teachers’ instructional practices that lead to the development and enactment of effective classroom instruction, and approaches and practices developed and used to transform classroom instruction in different education systems. Transforming Mathematics Instruction is organized to help readers learn not only from reading individual chapters, but also from reading across chapters and sections to explore broader themes, including: - Identifying what is important in mathematics for teaching and learning emphasized in different approaches; - Exploring how students’ learning is considered and facilitated through different approaches and practices; - Understanding the nature of various approaches that are valued in different systems and cultural contexts; - Probing culturally valued approaches in identifying and evaluating effective instructional practices. The book brings new research and insights into multiple approaches and practices for transforming mathematics instruction to the international community of mathematics education, with 25 chapters and four section prefaces contributed by 56 scholars from 10 different education systems. This rich collection is indispensable reading for mathematics educators, researchers, teacher educators, curriculum developers, and graduate students interested in learning about different instructional practices, approaches for instructional transformation, and research in different education systems. It will help readers to reflect on approaches and practices that are useful for instructional changes in their own education systems, and also inspire them to identify and further explore new areas of research and program development in improving mathematics teaching and learning.

Helping students develop an understanding of important mathematical ideas is a persistent challenge for teachers. In this book, one of a three-volume set, well-known mathematics educators Margaret Smith, Edward A. Silver, and Mary Kay Stein provide teachers of mathematics the support they need to improve their instruction. They focus on ways to engage upper elementary, middle school, and high school students in thinking, reasoning, and problem solving to build their mathematics understanding and proficiency. The content focus of Volume One is rational numbers and proportionality. Using materials that were developed under the NSF-funded COMET (Cases of Mathematics to Enhance Teaching) program, each volume in the set features cases from urban, middle school classrooms with ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse student populations. Each case illustrates an instructional episode in the classroom of a teacher who is implementing standards-based instruction, the teachers' perspective, including their thoughts and actions as they interact with students and with key aspects of mathematical content, cognitively challenging mathematics activities that are built around samples of authentic classroom practice., and facilitation chapters to help professional developers "teach" the cases, including specific guidelines for facilitating discussions and suggestions for connecting the ideas presented in the cases to a teacher's own practice. As a complete set, this resource provides a basis on which to build a comprehensive professional development program to improve mathematics instruction and student learning.

Content-Focused Coaching is a long-range professional development practice in which coaches work individually or with groups of classroom teachers.

This book builds on the Teachers Empowered to Advance Change in Mathematics (TEACH Math) project, which was an initiative that sought to develop a new generation of preK-8 mathematics teachers to connect mathematics, children’s mathematical thinking, and community and family knowledge in mathematics instruction – or what we have come to call children’s multiple mathematical knowledge bases in mathematics instruction, with an explicit focus on equity. Much of the work involved in the TEACH Math project included the development of three instructional modules for preK-8 mathematics methods courses to support the project’s goals. These activities were used and refined over eight semesters, and in Fall 2014 shared at a dissemination conference with other mathematics teacher educators from a variety of universities across the United States. Chapter contributions represent diverse program and geographical contexts and teach prospective and practicing teachers from a variety of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, in particular providing accounts of supports, challenges, and tensions in implementing equity-based mathematics teacher education. The chapters supply rich evidence and illustrative examples of how other mathematics teacher educators and professional developers might make the modules work for their unique practices, courses, workshops, and prospective teachers/teachers. It promises to be an important resource for offering guidance and examples to those working with prospective teachers of mathematics who want to create positive, culturally responsive, and equity-based mathematics experiences for our nation’s youth.

The implementation of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics'"Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics" implies fundamental shifts in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Intended for those individuals who will be instrumental in the implementation of those changes--teachers, administrators, and parents--this document presents 10 ideas for transforming mathematics teaching and learning based on research and successful practical experience: (1) All students can and must learn mathematics, which should serve as a "pump," not a "filter"; (2) Teachers need to listen to students and incorporate into their instruction what they learn from listening; (3) Students learn mathematics best when they construct their own mathematical understanding; (4) Students need to learn more and different types of mathematics; (5) Mathematical discussion should be a daily part of classroom activity; (6) Teachers need to become "informed guides" to the learner; (7) Calculators, computers, and related technology can be effective tools in the teaching and learning of mathematics; (8) Students need shared learning experiences; (9) Curricular and pedagogical change in mathematics cannot occur without accompanying change in student assessment; and (10) Lasting change takes broad support. (Contains 14 references.) (MDH)

"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.

Helping students develop an understanding of mathematical ideas is a persistent challenge for teachers. This work focuses on ways to engage upper elementary, middle school, and high school students in thinking, reasoning, and problem solving to build their mathematics understanding and proficiency.

Drawing on sociocultural learning theory, this book offers a groundbreaking theory of secondary mathematics teacher learning in schools, focusing on the transformation of instruction as a conceptual change project to achieve ambitious and equitable mathematics teaching. Despite decades of research showing the importance of ambitious and equitable teaching, few inroads have been made in most U.S. classrooms, and teacher learning in general remains undertheorized in most educational research. Illustrating their theory through closely documented case studies of secondary mathematics teachers’ learning and instructional practices, authors Horn and Garner explore the key conceptual issues teachers are required to work through in order to more fully realize ambitious and equitable teaching in their classrooms. By theorizing teacher learning from a sociocultural perspective and focusing on instructional practice, the authors make a unique contribution to the field of teacher learning. This book offers researchers, scholars, and teacher educators new theoretical and methodological tools for the elusive phenomenon of teacher learning, and provides instructional leaders and coaches with practical examples of how teachers shift their thinking and practice.