Making Sense of Mathematics for Teaching Grades 3-5 (How Mathematics Progresses Within and Across Grades)

Winner of the 2018 Teachers' Choice Award for Professional Development

Develop a deep understanding of mathematics. This user-friendly resource presents grades 3-5 teachers with a logical progression of pedagogical actions, classroom norms, and collaborative teacher team efforts to increase their knowledge and improve mathematics instruction. Focus on an understanding of and procedural fluency with multiplication and division. Address how to learn and teach fraction concepts and operations with depth. Thoroughly teach plane and solid geometry. Explore strategies and techniques to effectively learn and teach significant mathematics concepts and provide all students with the precise, accurate information they need to achieve academic success.

Benefits:

• Dig deep into mathematical modeling and reasoning to improve as both a learner and teacher of mathematics.
• Explore how to develop, select, and modify mathematics tasks in order to balance cognitive demand and engage students.
• Discover the three important norms to uphold in all mathematics classrooms.
• Learn to apply the tasks, questioning, and evidence (TQE) process to grow as both learners and teachers of mathematics.
• Use charts and diagrams for classifying shapes, which can engage students in important mathematical practices.
• Access short videos that show what classrooms that are developing mathematical understanding should look like.

Contents:
Introduction

1. Place Value, Addition, and Subtraction
2. Multiplication and Division
3. Fraction Concepts
4. Fraction Operations
5. Geometry
6. Measurement

Epilogue: Next Steps
Appendix A: Completed Classification of Triangles Chart
Appendix B: Completed Diagram for Classifying Quadrilaterals

Juli K. Dixon, PhD, is a professor of mathematics education at the University of Central Florida. She coordinates the award-winning Lockheed Martin/UCF Academy for Mathematics and Science for the K-8 master of education program as well as the mathematics track of the doctoral program in education. Prior to joining the faculty at UCF, Dr. Dixon was a secondary mathematics educator at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and a public school mathematics teacher in urban school settings at the elementary, middle, and secondary levels.

She is a prolific writer and sought-after speaker. She has served as chair of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Student Explorations in Mathematics Editorial Panel and as a board member for the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators. At the state level, she has served on the board of directors for the Nevada Mathematics Council and is a past president of the Florida Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators.

Edward C. Nolan is preK-12 director of mathematics for Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. He has nineteen years of classroom experience in both middle and high schools and was department chair for fifteen years, all in Montgomery County. An active member of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), he is president-elect of the Maryland Council of Supervisors of Mathematics. Nolan is also a consultant for Solution Tree as one of the leaders of Dixon Nolan Adams Mathematics, providing support for teachers and administrators on rigorous standards for mathematics.

Thomasenia Lott Adams, PhD, is an associate dean and professor of mathematics education in the College of Education at the University of Florida. She has mentored many future teachers of mathematics and mathematics teacher educators, and has served as a mathematics coach for grades K-12. She is the author of an elementary mathematics text series, academic books, and numerous peer-reviewed journal articles. Dr. Adams is a presenter at U.S. conferences and for professional development in school settings, which often includes teaching mathematics. She is also a trained National School Reform Faculty Certified Critical Friends Group coach.

Jennifer M. Tobias, PhD, is an associate professor of mathematics education at Illinois State University. Her specialization is in elementary mathematics with a research emphasis on the preparation of prospective elementary teachers and their development of understanding elementary mathematics, specifically in the area of rational numbers. Prior to coming to Illinois State, she taught mathematics at the middle and high school level for three years. She is also conducts professional development workshops for teachers.

Guy Barmoha is the director of the Mathematics, Science, & Gifted Department at Broward County Public Schools. Barmoha has also worked as the Elementary Mathematics Curriculum Supervisor for Broward County Public Schools. In both roles, Barmoha has designed and delivered engaging mathematics and science professional learning for in-service teachers and administrators in grades K-12.

While managing his responsibilities with Broward Schools, Barmoha worked as a part-time instructor for the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science (IMACS) from 1995 to 2013. In conjunction, Barmoha has written curriculum for Broward County Public Schools, Florida Atlantic University, and IMACS. He continues to train preservice and in-service teachers in mathematics content knowledge and pedagogy.