Written in a highly engaging style, Math Class Redesigned explains how to develop a deep and abiding love of math in children and maximize the mathematical growth of every student in a classroom. Filled with practical tips and anecdotes, the book describes how to balance individualized learning (using Khan Academy and high-quality workbooks) with unusually effective, highly structured, and compelling group discovery.
Math Class Redesigned identifies twenty common math teaching practices which undermine and sabotage children’s potential love of math and their mathematical development. The book explores why these practices are damaging, and, in each case, offers a more effective teaching practice.
The book is based on Jane Molnar’s thirty-five years of teaching math in a wide variety of classrooms and settings, including many inner-city schools in the Bay Area, eleven Berkeley public schools, UC Berkeley’s MESA program, a college in Canada, a First Nations Reservation, a residential psychiatric center for children in San Francisco, and her own home.
The book also draws on her experiences training mathematicians, scientists, engineers, philosophers, and classroom teachers to teach algebra to young children using a Socratic approach.
This book is for anyone who is interested in how children learn, for those who are perplexed by why so many children struggle painfully with math, and most of all for teachers who want a more powerful way to reach every child in their classes. It is also for parents, who are their children’s first teachers and greatest advocates.
Math Class Redesigned is available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle format.