Mathematics in Focus, K-6: How to Help Students Understand Big Ideas and Make Critical Connections (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780325025780)

Your textbook may be an inch deep, but your teaching doesn't have to be.

"The defining characteristic of instruction in a focused curriculum is that students have experiences that promote deeper understanding of the big ideas, as well as the time to develop these complex understandings. In this book we offer practical suggestions that teachers can use with their local and state mathematics curricula to realize the vision of NCTM's Curriculum Focal Points." - Jane F. Schielack and Dinah Chancellor

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics gave us important guidance on developing a coherent curriculum with key focal points for each grade level. Jane F. Schielack and Dinah Chancellor give us the practical strategies for implementing the focal points in our instruction.

Janie and Dinah understand that teaching a focused curriculum takes special efforts in planning. Each lesson has to be designed with an eye for teaching concepts and skills and building purposeful connections. With their lesson template and suggestions for long-term planning they simplify the process and make it manageable.

They address a range of strategies that math leaders and teachers can use for instructional design that helps students achieve deeper understanding:

• prioritizing and combining mathematical ideas within tasks
• making thoughtful selections of instructional tools
• building relevance for mathematics
• managing classroom conversations
• building connections among multiple representations
• allowing appropriate time for learning
• using assessment effectively
• differentiating instruction.

Janie and Dinah make all of it easily accessible and relevant by using example teachers in classrooms to illustrate how it can all be done.

Study questions are available online and inside the text following each chapter. And Janie and Dinah devote a whole chapter to the power of Professional Learning Communities for focused mathematics. These tools make Mathematics in Focus ideal for your next book study group. Faculty in mathematics education will also find this an ideal course book.