I love reading books and I’ve always been more of a nonfiction book person than a fiction reader. As a math teacher I particularly love getting new ideas for teaching math. If you’re looking for some fresh ideas and strategies that you can use in your classroom, then these books for math teachers will be right for you.
In this post we’ll be diving into each book, breaking down exactly what to expect in each book. No matter where you are in your math teaching journey, you’re sure to find something that will help and inspire you as a math teacher.
Last year we reviewed another 5 books for math teachers. So, if you’re looking for even more math teacher books to consider adding to your bookshelf, check them out here.
Here are the 4 books we’ll be taking a look at:
1- Daily Routines to Jump-Start Math Class (Middle School)
#2 Hacking Mathematics: 10 Problems that Need Solving
#3 What Successful Math Teachers Do (Grades 6-12)
#4 The Common Core Mathematics Companion: The Standards Decoded
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#1- Daily Routines to Jump-Start Math Class by John J. Sangiovanni and Eric Milou
Daily Routines to Jump-Start Math Class (Middle School) starts off by explaining what the authors mean by daily routines and how that concept can be applied to your math class. Then, it goes through a series of 20 routines that you can use and modify to fit the needs of students in any math classroom.
These math routines are based on the idea of having students first look at various mathematical scenarios. Then, they draw conclusions, make predictions, or estimate. Included in this books are links to videos and resources. These really show more examples of how to use these routines in the math classroom.
The Reading Experience
The first 13 pages of Daily Routines to Jump-Start Math Class lay out the “why” for implementing these types of routines in your math classroom. After that there are 20 routines described. Each routine includes the following sections “About the Routine”, “Why it Matters”, “What they Should Understand First”, “What to Do”, “Anticipated Strategies”, and “Additional Examples”.
It’s a quick read- I read most of the book while I was at my son’s soccer practice. But, it’s not the type of book you read from beginning to end. Once you get the overall idea you can skim each routine to find out about it. Then when you want to use one in class, you can do a more in-depth reading to get all you need to implement that routine successfully.
My Favorite Part for Math Teachers
Of the 4 books that I read for this post, this is my favorite book. I really enjoyed how practical it was and the impact these strategies would have on increasing students’ math reasoning. It’s pretty hard for me to choose a favorite part, but I really like Routine 7: “It’s About”. I love how visual this routine is.
The “It’s About” routine asks students to estimate parts of a whole. It helps students develop fraction sense and use estimation to make reasonable guesses. You begin by giving students shapes with different partitions shaded in. Then, students estimate what portion of the shape is shaded. Then, gather and record student estimates. But the routine doesn’t stop there. The next step is where students’ mathematical thinking muscles are really flexed. After reviewing estimates, students are challenged to find a more precise value for the shaded portion. Then, they explain how they arrived at their answer.
In this routine students will have to use a different part of their brain that focuses on estimation instead of basic calculation, and I believe it will help them develop their spatial reasoning. This routine also easily translates into real-world applications of mathematical thinking.
Overall, these routines could easily be incorporated into any math classroom. These routines have the potential of really helping our students see math concepts in a new way and tackle novel mathematical problems they’ll be facing. I like the way the authors explain the importance of getting students thinking about numbers and mathematics:
“Thinking flexibly about numbers is a hallmark of mathematically proficient students. Thinking flexibly enhances our efficiency. It enables us to leverage patterns and shortcuts. It can help us solve problems and make logical decisions about purchases and quantities in our everyday life.”
Daily Routines to Jump-Start Math Class
What it’s Not
This book is not a cover to cover read. Each of the routines is explained in detail and unless you’re in a really nerdy math mood (no judgment!), you probably won’t read this cover to cover.
What you’ll get out of reading Daily Routines to Jump-Start Math Class
When I read this book I was inspired to try these routines in my math class. It definitely will get you thinking about how to build your students’ math reasoning and understanding beyond standard algorithms. With this book you’ll have a go to inspiration guide for trying some new things. Plus, it’s packed with how to’s, implementation resources, and video examples.
#2-Hacking Mathematics by Dennis Sheeran
In a Nutshell- In Hacking Mathematics Dennis Sheeran shares 10 things that math teachers can do to help students. Most of the ideas are related to making math relevant for students. He includes ideas for incorporating technology, connecting with other math teachers, and using math from regular life in the classroom. There are 10 ideas and the author suggests that you just try one at a time and not try to do all of them at once (advice which I wholeheartedly agree with!).
The Reading Experience
You could call Hacking Mathematics a nerdy math teacher beach read or soccer practice read. I basically read it start to finish during one soccer practice. It was inspirational and I believe it will get you thinking about how to be better without sending a message of guilt. At the end of each chapter there’s a what you can do tomorrow section. You can easily refer back these pages when you’re ready to try some of the ideas out.
My Favorite Part for Math Teachers
Many of the ideas that are shared in this book are not new ideas to me, but I appreciated the reminder and fresh take on them. One area that I really appreciated was about creating community and incorporating parents. This is something that I’ve struggled with while teaching at a junior high school in a community where parents don’t always have the resources they need to help their children succeed in school.
Sheeran suggests involving families in the math classroom by sending home 2 minutes of information from the day’s lesson 4 days per week. Apps like Remind or even through e-mail will work for this strategy. This concrete approach to parent involvement helped me think about parent involvement in a different way, without feeling overwhelming.
What it’s Not
Well, this isn’t a book that you’d necessarily go back to as a reference book. It’s a bit more “fluffy”, or readable. Most likely you’d read it and feel inspired to make a few big-level changes, but you won’t go back to it very often for technical guidance.
What you’ll get out of reading Hacking Mathematics
In reading Hacking Mathematics I think you’ll get a chance to think about how you incorporate the real world into math class and some ideas of how to add more relevance to your class. There are some specific action steps you can take to make some improvements in your math class.
#3- What Successful Math Teachers Do, Grades 6-12 by Alfred S. Posamentier and Daniel Jaye
In a Nutshell: What Successful Math Teachers Do gives many strategies you can use in a secondary math classroom. It’s highly based on research and breaks the strategies into categories. These include: managing the classroom, enhancing teaching techniques, assessing student progress, teaching problem solving, and considering social aspects in teaching math.
The Reading Experience
You probably won’t read this one at the beach. There are 79 strategies across several overarching topics . So, it’s something that you can read a little bit at a time. It could work well as a book study with your PLC where you look at a one or two strategies at a time. This would also work well for new teachers to slowly work their way through.
Many of the strategies are arranged by the math practices they support. This makes them align nicely with the NCTM and CCSS guidelines. Each of the math practices is supported by several practical strategies to focus on.
My Favorite Part for Math Teachers
There are so many strategies discussed in What Successful Math Teachers Do, Grades 6-12, that there’s something for everyone. One of my favorite strategies is Strategy 3 “Praising Mistakes”.
The authors share strategies to get students analyzing mistakes as part of their regular practice, as well as tips for feedback that supports making mistakes as a part of learning. This strategy is one that I’ve seen have a tremendous impact on student learning- its importance really can’t be overstated.
I also love that they included a part all about social aspects of teaching math. Strategies 68-79 address a variety of social issues in math classrooms, what the research says, and strategies to address them.
This section tackles a lot of pressing social issues in the math classroom including cultures, families, gender stereotypes in math, overcoming students’ negative perceptions of their own ability, and enrichment for students.
With current events highlighting issues of race, equity, and social justice, this part definitely stood out. I’ve read a lot of math books and I haven’t seen another one that discusses what these issues look like, and how you can address them, within the math classroom.
For example, Strategy 68 “Make multicultural connections in mathematics” gives five examples of ways to teach math with more attention paid to social and cultural issues in a school community. They focus on recognizing cultural diffences and building on them to help students of all backgrounds experience success.
One of these examples is to highlight mathematical contributions of different societies and mathematicians from different cultures and ethnicities. Some examples given include showing proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem from China, India, and Babylon. In addition, the author mentions highlighting various mathematicians including Benjamin Banneker, an African American creator of mathematical puzzles.
What it’s Not
This book doesn’t give you a plan or course for teaching your grade level math. It doesn’t focus on specific math concepts and how to teach them. Instead, the strategies are very broad and can be used across grade levels and math content areas.
What you’ll get out of reading What Successful Math Teachers Do
When you read this book you’ll get well researched strategies that are explained in hyper-detail. It will get you thinking about some ways that you can be better as a teacher and how to build on the teaching foundation you already have.
#4- The Common Core Mathematics Companion: The Standards Decoded Grades 6-8 by Ruth Harbin Miles and Lois A Williams (see other versions for other grades)
In a Nutshell- This book is a companion for planning to teach Common Core math standards, just like the title suggests. It goes standard by standard and breaks down what they say, what exactly they mean, and how to teach them.
The Reading Experience
Unlike the other books in this post, The Common Core Mathematics Companion was never meant to be a “reading book.” It’s obviously a reference book. It goes through each standard in detail and tells you what the teacher does when teaching it, what the students does, common misconceptions, and has a place for you to write your notes.
The level of detail given makes this book particularly notable. This book dives deep into each standard and really breaks it down. This makes it a great companion to use in planning or in PLC meetings.
My Favorite Part for Math Teachers
My favorite thing about this book is that when I don’t understand exactly what a standard is trying to say I can go and find it here. One of the authors specializes in developing teachers’ content knowledge and strategies. So, you really feel like you’re getting to peak into her brain by reading this book.
What it’s Not
The Common Core Mathematics Companion is not a page turner. To be fair, it wasn’t designed to be a page turner either. It does an awesome job of being exactly what it was designed to be- a reference book for understanding and teaching the standards better.
What you’ll get out of reading The Common Core Mathematics Companion: The Standards Decoded Grades 6-8
This book is invaluable for teachers new to a grade level or who don’t feel confident with all of the standards of a course. You’ll have a teaching expert at your side to help you understand the big picture of each standard as well as the nuance of all the parts of a standard. Literally, you’ll have a companion to go to when you get stuck. It’s especially great when you’re changing grade levels or if you are new to teaching 6th thru 8th grade math.
Try one today
So there you have it- 4 books to consider for your math teacher bookshelf. I hope that one of these books catches your eye.
Each book has it’s own contribution to our work as math teachers, but I think that each of them helps plan engaging math lessons that will challenge our students to think more deeply about math.
If you’re looking for more books for math teachers, check out the article 5 books for math teachers. These have even more ideas for ways to keep students engaged and learning math!
What did I miss? What essential books are on your teacher bookshelf?
