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Strengths-Based Teaching and Learning in Mathematics
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Strengths-Based Teaching and Learning in Mathematics
Five Teaching Turnarounds for Grades K-6

First Edition

Foreword by Francis (Skip) Fennell



March 2020 | 272 pages | Corwin

“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. 


 
Foreword
 
Introduction – An Invitation to Turnaround
Why Strengths-Based Instruction?

 
Who is Strengths-Based Mathematics Teaching For?

 
What are Mathematics Strengths we See in Students?

 
Exploring Your Own Math Identity

 
Moving to a Strengths-Based Perspective

 
Practices that Build a Strengths Cycle

 
The Five Teaching Turnarounds

 
 
Chapter 1 - Identify Your Teaching Strengths
What Do You Believe About Your Students' Learning?

 
What Do Students Think You Believe?

 
Summary

 
 
Chapter 2 - Turnaround Mathematical Proficiencies, Processes, and Practices
Building Mathematical Proficiency Through a Strengths-Based Lens

 
Building Mathematical Practices and Dispositions Through a Strengths-Based Lens

 
Building Strengths in Problem Solving

 
Building Strengths in Communication

 
Building Strengths in Reasoning and Proof

 
Building Strengths in Connections

 
Building Strengths in Representations

 
Summary

 
 
Chapter 3 - Your Students’ Mathematics Content Strengths
Building Mathematical Content Knowledge Through a Strengths-Based Lens

 
Building and Recognizing Strengths in the Meaning of Number and Operations and Algebraic Thinking

 
Count to show how numbers represent quantity

 
Count to show how numbers represent quantity

 
Develop Strategies to Add, Subtract, Multiply, and Divide

 
Building and Recognizing Strengths in Understanding Number and Operations - Fractions

 
Building and Recognizing Strengths in Geometry

 
van Heile’s Geometric Conceptual Understanding Level 0: Visualization

 
van Heile’s Geometric Conceptual Understanding Level 1: Analysis

 
Summary

 
 
Chapter 4 – Turnaround Grouping Practices
Planning Effective Strength-Based Instruction

 
Fixed versus Flexible Grouping Practices

 
Long-Term Whole-Class Ability Grouping

 
Small-Group In-Class Ability Grouping

 
Flexible Grouping Strategies

 
Strength’s Based Flexible Grouping Practices

 
Mixed-Strength Whole-Group Instruction

 
Homogeneous-Strength Small Groups

 
Targeted Small Group Instruction Through a Strengths-Based Lens

 
Summary

 
 
Chapter 5 – Turnaround Tasks
High Cognitive Tasks

 
Turnaround a Task: Designing a Personalized, Strengths-Based Instructional Task

 
Individualized Personalization

 
Funds of Knowledge

 
Three Perspectives for Adapting a Task to Support Student's Strengths

 
Access and Equity

 
Mathematical Goals

 
Formative Assessment

 
Promoting Strengths Through Parallel Tasks

 
Exploratory Discourse About Tasks

 
Math Amendments: Revising the Task Solution

 
Summary

 
 
Chapter 6 - Turnaround Feedback
The Importance of Feedback in a Strengths-Based Classroom

 
Teacher-to-Student Feedback From a Strengths Perspective

 
Teacher to Student Feedback Loop

 
Elements of Teacher to Student Feedback

 
Student-to-Teacher Feedback from a Strengths Perspective

 
Prior to the Lesson

 
During the Lesson

 
Closing the Lesson

 
Student-to-Student Feedback from a Strengths Perspective

 
Classroom-Based Formative Assessment and Feedback

 
Observation

 
Interview

 
Show Me

 
Hinge Question

 
Exit Task

 
Summary

 
 
Chapter 7 - Turnaround Students’ Identities
Windows and Mirrors

 
Our Teacher Mirror

 
Translation Task

 
Don't Miss an Opportunity to Recognize a Student's Points of Power

 
Students' Productive Dispositions

 
Students Self Analyze their Strong Points

 
Summary

 
 
Chapter 8 - Turnaround Professional Learning Communities
Supporting Teachers' Strengths

 
The Appreciative Inquiry (AI) Framework

 
Whole School Agreement

 
Summary

 
 
Chapter 9 - Turnaround Family Communication
Engaging Families in Strengths-Based Talk

 
Incorporating Family and Community Strengths

 
Working Together to Share Mathematical Ideas

 
Family Math Resources

 
Conferences with Family Members from a Strengths-Based Perspective

 
Summary

 
 
Epilogue - Turnaround Reflection
 
References

"Finally the book that good teachers have been waiting for: a book that focuses not on what students cannot do, but on what they can. This needed book offers teachers a positive, productive way to rethink teaching and learning in mathematics and would be ideal for a school- or districtwide book study."

Jeff Shih
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

"Anytime you purchase a resource book in mathematics, you hope that it does an inspirational delivery of its title. In Strengths-Based Teaching and Learning in Mathematics: Five Teaching Turnarounds for Grades K–6, the authors have gone above and beyond the book’s high expectations.
Kobett and Karp have masterfully tapped into the zeitgeist of contemporary math education and written a book that oozes with not just empathy, reflection, and candor but with clear and motivating practicality that will transform any math classroom into a place of community, hope, and unbridled strength."

Sunil Singh

For graduate students- This is a very empowering approach to teaching math.

Ms Christa Stalcup
School Of Education, Saint Xavier University
October 30, 2020
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