In every mathematics classroom, the need for differentiated instruction is present: in many its acute. Students learn at different rates, in different ways, with different successes and different challenges. Instruction must be flexible enough to meet everyones needs and nurturing enough to not only support growth but also address the frustration that often leads to mathphobia. The Differentiated Math Classroom can help make high-quality differentiated instruction a classroom reality. Its the usable, comprehensive resource teachers need to help students of all levels and abilities succeed with math.
Whether you teach math sixty minutes a day or six periods a day, The Differentiated Math Classroom describes both the big ideas of differentiation and the day-to-day teaching that makes it work. Miki Murray and Jenny Jorgensen present everything you need to get started and to help all students meet national standards, including ideas for:
- Setting up a classroom to maximize opportunities for differentiation and establish community
- Getting to know students strengths and needs through high-quality assessments
- Devising anchor activities that help students work independently with meaningful math content while you free up time for individual instruction
- Creating tiered lessons that scaffold content and provide the flexibility to challenge some students and offer assistance to others.
Murray and Jorgensen offer practical ideas for planning and designing units that engage students and facilitate learning about important math concepts, as well as teaching tools, questions for professional reflection, and answers to teachers most frequently asked questions about differentiation.
Discover that differentiated instruction is a flexible framework that supports all math learners. Filled with examples from real classes and samples of student work, The Differentiated Math Classroom will help every child learn more effectively by showing you how to think about students, mathematics, and your teaching in powerful new ways.
Miki (Mabelle) Murray is the coauthor or author of the popular Heinemann titles The Differentiated Math Classroom (2007) and Teaching Mathematics Vocabulary in Context (2004). In a thirty-five year career in mathematics education, she taught for more than twenty-five years, including time at Maine's Center for Teaching and Learning, and was a professional development provider for another ten. Although now retired from the classroom, she continues to help teachers and students learn, love, and become literate in mathematics. She is a Heinemann Professional Development provider.
Jenny Jorgensen is coauthor of The Differentiated Math Classroom (2007). She has worked with students and teachers in grades K - 12 as well as with undergraduate and graduate students in the area of mathematics education. Understanding how students make sense of and learn mathematics intrigues her. When she's not teaching, presenting, or providing staff development, Jenny may be found flying her small, single-engine plane or sailing with her husband. She is a Heinemann Professional Development provider.
