Things I like: I read this book quite quickly. It took about a week with reading only 20 minutes a day. In addition to being short, it has some fantastic ideas that are backed up by oodles of research. All of the "shifts" he writes about are things that a good math teacher should do:
1. Incorporate cumulative review each day.
2. Learn from reading programs: ask questions about inference, focus on process rather than the answer, etc.
3. Use multiple representations
4. Have language rich classrooms
5. Take all opportunities to develop number sense.
6. Build from charts, graphs, and tables
7. Increase the natural use of measurement throughout the curriculum
8. Minimize what is no longer important
9. Embed mathematics in realistic problems and real-world contexts
10. Make "Why?" "How do you know?" "Can you explain?" classroom mantras.
All fantastic things. If all math teachers did these things, I probably wouldn't have created this blog and there probably wouldn't be this huge education reform (with regards to math at least).
The book also has some neat articles in the appendix. The one on what we can learn from Singapore Math was quite interesting.
Dislikes: Not much really, mostly a perspective thing. This is not really a "Break Tradition" book. I got the feeling that it would take a traditional teacher, and turn him/her into a traditional teacher that uses research based methods. Good, but not my cup of tea - it's peach (yum!)
I recommend this book to all traditional math teachers or teachers that are unfamiliar with the research regarding these ideas. Good ideas to keep in mind as I break tradition.
Anyone else read this? Your thoughts about it? What other "shifts" would you recommend Math teachers do?
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