Accessible Mathematics: Ten Instructional Shifts That Raise Student Achievement » (New Edition)

Steve Leinwand is the author of the Heinemann titles Accessible Mathematics: Ten Instructional Shifts That Raise Student Achievement and Sensible Mathematics: A Guide for School Leaders. He is Principal Research Analyst at the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C., where he supports a range of mathematics education initiatives and research. Steve served as Mathematics Supervisor in the Connecticut Department of Education for twenty-two years and is a former president of the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics.

Raising students' math achievement doesn't mean ripping up your planning book and starting over. In Accessible Mathematics Steven Leinwand (author of Sensible Mathematics) shows how small shifts in the good teaching you already do can make a big difference in student learning.

Accessible Mathematics is Leinwand's latest important book for math teachers. In it he focuses on the crucial issue of classroom instruction. He scours the research and visits highly effective classrooms for practical examples of small adjustments to your teaching that lead to deeper student learning in math. Some of his 10 classroom-tested teaching shifts may surprise you and others will validate your thinking. But all of them will improve your students' performance.

Thoroughly practical and ever-aware of the limits of teachers' time, Leinwand gives you everything you need to put his commonsense ideas to use immediately. His extensive planning advice will help you streamline your teaching to get more from everything you do. Classroom examples from every grade level model teaching language and instructional moves. And his suggestions for professional learning help increase your effectiveness through the power of collaboration.

Steven Leinwand shares your priority: raising the mathematical understanding and achievement of every one of your students. Read Accessible Mathematics, try his 10 suggestions in your practice, and discover how minor shifts in your teaching can put student learning into high gear.

Introduction It's Instruction That Matters Most

1 We've Got Most of the Answers 1

2 Ready, Set, Review 6

3 It's Not Hard to Figure Out Why Reading Works Better Than Math 15

4 Picture It, Draw It 19

5 Language-Rich Classes 26

6 Building Number Sense 34

7 Milking the Data 39

8 How Big, How Far, How Much? 46

9 Just Don't Do It! 54

10 Putting It All in Context 60

11 Just Ask Them "Why?" 69

12 Punting Is Simply No Longer Acceptable 72

13 We All Have a Role to Play and Teachers Can't Do It Alone 79

Conclusion: Instructional Productivity 86

App. 1 A Crib Sheet for Raising Mathematics Achievement for All 89

App. 2 A Model Vision of Effective Teaching and Learning of Mathematics 90

App. 3 Research Matters / Teach Mathematics Right the First Time 96

App. 4 Classroom Realities We Do Not Often Talk About 100

App. 5 Learning from Singapore Math 104