Understanding The Math You Teach

Marian Small has written the kind of book teachers will keep on their closest shelf as they explore and return to the big ideas of mathematics. In her new resource, Understanding the Math We Teach and How to Teach It, Marian brings the support and insight teachers need to teach math with clarity and confidence. With this new resource, new and experienced teachers alike will focus on the big ideas and practices in mathematics, deepening your own understanding and content knowledge, learn how to teach those big ideas using a student-centered, problem-solving approach, and anticipate student thinking and explore effective tools, models, and rich mathematical questions that nudge student thinking forward. This readable and relatable resource will give you a well-founded base of mathematical knowledge, leading to better math instruction that will capture your students' interest. It is sure to become a trusted treasure you return to again and again.

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.

Shows teachers the "why" behind the procedures they teach in elementary math.

Teaching strategies are grounded in the NCTM standards and illustrated with real student work. In addition, the author provides a full range of concrete developmental activities that encourage future teachers to make math make sense for themselves as well as for their students.Believing that teachers who are comfortable with mathematics develop learners who are comfortable with mathematics, this author empowers preservice preK-4 teachers to teach math confidently by laying a solid foundation of math concepts, and building on that foundation with engaging, meaningful, standards-based teaching methods. Integrated in this unique combined approach to teaching mathematics is a thorough discussion of math manipulatives, as well as the use of technologycomputer and otherwiseto assist today's mathematics teacher.For educators, aids, and parents responsible for teaching Pre-K to fourth grade math.

Studies of teachers in the U.S. often document insufficient subject matter knowledge in mathematics. Yet, these studies give few examples of the knowledge teachers need to support teaching, particularly the kind of teaching demanded by recent reforms in mathematics education. Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics describes the nature and development of the knowledge that elementary teachers need to become accomplished mathematics teachers, and suggests why such knowledge seems more common in China than in the United States, despite the fact that Chinese teachers have less formal education than their U.S. counterparts. The anniversary edition of this bestselling volume includes the original studies that compare U.S and Chinese elementary school teachers’ mathematical understanding and offers a powerful framework for grasping the mathematical content necessary to understand and develop the thinking of school children. Highlighting notable changes in the field and the author’s work, this new edition includes an updated preface, introduction, and key journal articles that frame and contextualize this seminal work.

Written to help teachers deepen their understanding of the mathematics they teach, the authors present a concise description of the mathematical ideas encountered in the elementary grades. Each of the book's 13 chapters focuses on an important math topic, and interspersed throughout each chapter are many activities that bring to life the mathematical information presented.

Talking and writing about unfinished ideas is vital to learning mathematics, but most students only speak up when they think they have the right answer - especially middle school and high school students. Amanda Jansen and her collaborating teachers have developed a breakthrough approach to address this challenge. Rough Draft Math: Revising to Learn, Jansen shares the power of infusing math class with the spirit of revision so that students feel comfortable thinking aloud as they problem-solve rather than talking only to perform right answers. Creating a Community of Learners: As part of the rough draft framework, a class of students becomes an equitable and inclusive community of thinkers, one where students feel safe to engage in discourse while developing mathematical competency and confidence Practical Application of Innovative Ideas: This book includes specific teaching techniques and a range of classroom vignettes showing rough draft math in action within a student-centered teaching approach. Children can develop solutions at their own pace and share thought processes behind their conclusions Classroom Tested: Jansen has developed the concept of rough draft math in collaboration with a diverse group of dynamic and reflective teachers. Rough Draft Math' provides a blueprint for educators to allow free-thinking discussion while maintaining the mathematical learning goalsRough Draft Math, Jansen shows how to create an energetic classroom culture where students readily participate and share their evolving understanding while engaging in math talk, collaborative problem solving, and ongoing revision of ideas. '