Teaching Powerful Problem-Solving in Math

Teaching Powerful Problem-Solving in Math provides the first in-depth portrait of schoolwide lesson study, showing how U.S. teachers at several schools used it to implement powerful problem-based mathematics instruction.

Students learn mathematics by confronting a novel problem and building the new understanding of the mathematical concepts needed to solve it, just as mathematicians would. By learning in this way, students discover the power of their own thinking and gain confidence that extends well beyond mathematics.

This book introduces readers to urban elementary and K–8 schools where teachers have dramatically transformed math learning for teachers and for students. Readers will follow teachers as they transform instruction using schoolwide lesson study, building powerful new ways for educators to learn from each other and practice innovative teaching techniques. The authors use in-depth classroom portraits (from the outset of schoolwide lesson study and three years later) to illuminate the changes in mathematics instruction at a school that raised its proficiency on Smarter Balanced Assessment from 15% to 56%. Extensive resources and links are provided to help readers understand and build on the work of these schools which is grounded in established principles of collective efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and learner agency for both students and teachers.

Book Features:

• Shows how teaching through problem-solving can erase the achievement gap in mathematics learning.
• Provides the first in-depth portrait of schoolwide lesson study, showing how U.S. teachers at several schools build it and use it to transform teaching.
• Profiles teachers leading the transformation of instruction to achieve the ambitious vision of learning embodied in recent standards.
• Uses photographs, student work, and detailed classroom descriptions to bring to life mathematics lessons in year 1 and year 4 of the school’s work to build problem-solving.
• Provides examples and links to the strategies teachers use to make student thinking visible (and actionable) during mathematics lessons.
• Includes lesson plans, photographs of board work, student journals, school newsletters, self-assessment rubrics and dozens of links to the resources needed to begin using teaching through problem-solving and school-wide lesson study.
• Provides long-term, teacher-led solutions for professional learning and for mathematics instruction that have been shown to improve teacher retention and student proficiency.

Catherine C. Lewis is a researcher at Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California who has conducted research in Japanese schools for four decades. Akihiko Takahashi is a professor emeritus of mathematics education at DePaul University and an internationally renowned elementary teacher. Shelley Friedkin is an instructional coach at John Muir Elementary School in San Francisco, California. Nora Houseman is program director for professional learning in the Alameda County Office of Education, California. Sara Liebert served as teacher, instructional coach and principal at John Muir Elementary School and currently works at Apple.