DeAnn Huinker - Böcker

How can teachers help students overcome persistent struggles with fractions?Fractions Unlocked, co-published with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, provides a research-based answer by shifting instruction away from traditional part-whole models toward a measurement-based approach grounded in unit fractions.Fractions represent one of the most persistent challenges in mathematics education. Despite their critical importance as a foundation for algebra and advanced mathematics, many students struggle to develop a meaningful understanding of fraction concepts and operations. Fractions Unlocked offers teachers a transformative approach to instruction.Drawing on decades of research and classroom experience, the authors show how understanding fractions as numbers with magnitude can transform student learning. This book provides a clear roadmap for instruction, prioritizing conceptual meaning over rote memorization to help students build a deep, connected understanding of how fractions work. This essential resource equips elementary and middle school teachers and coaches with instructional strategies and research-based activities to put these ideas into immediate practice.Book Features:Analysis of student work and "Spotlights on Student Thinking" to help teachers interpret and build on student strategies and explanations.In-depth development of the number line as a central tool for understanding fractions as numbers with magnitude.Purposeful use of representations (fraction strips, drawings, number lines, contextual situations, and symbolic notation) to make fraction concepts, relationships, and operations visible.Tools, tasks, and discussion prompts, along with instructional sequences, that support implementation of meaningful and connected fraction instruction.Teaching takeaways that synthesize the key ideas of each chapter.

How can teachers help students overcome persistent struggles with fractions?Fractions Unlocked, co-published with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, provides a research-based answer by shifting instruction away from traditional part-whole models toward a measurement-based approach grounded in unit fractions.Fractions represent one of the most persistent challenges in mathematics education. Despite their critical importance as a foundation for algebra and advanced mathematics, many students struggle to develop a meaningful understanding of fraction concepts and operations. Fractions Unlocked offers teachers a transformative approach to instruction.Drawing on decades of research and classroom experience, the authors show how understanding fractions as numbers with magnitude can transform student learning. This book provides a clear roadmap for instruction, prioritizing conceptual meaning over rote memorization to help students build a deep, connected understanding of how fractions work. This essential resource equips elementary and middle school teachers and coaches with instructional strategies and research-based activities to put these ideas into immediate practice.Book Features:Analysis of student work and "Spotlights on Student Thinking" to help teachers interpret and build on student strategies and explanations.In-depth development of the number line as a central tool for understanding fractions as numbers with magnitude.Purposeful use of representations (fraction strips, drawings, number lines, contextual situations, and symbolic notation) to make fraction concepts, relationships, and operations visible.Tools, tasks, and discussion prompts, along with instructional sequences, that support implementation of meaningful and connected fraction instruction.Teaching takeaways that synthesize the key ideas of each chapter.

Are you ready to take your teaching to the next level? Taking Action: Implementing Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices in K—Grade 5 offers a coherent set of professional learning experiences designed to foster teachers’ understanding of the effective mathematics teaching practices and their ability to apply those practices in their own classrooms. The book examines in depth what each teaching practice would look like in an elementary school classroom, with narrative cases, classroom videos, and real student work, presenting a rich array of experiences that bring the practices to life. Chapters are sequenced to scaffold teachers’ exploration of the effective mathematics teaching practices and furnish activities and materials for hands-on learning experiences around each individual teaching practice and across the set of the eight effective practices as a whole. Specific examples of each practice are presented in context, providing real-life instantiations of what the practice “looks” and “sounds” like in the classroom, with a careful analysis that links the practice to student learning and equity. The reader is invited to personally engage in two types of activities that run throughout the book: Analyzing Teaching and Learning, in which tasks or situations are presented to the reader to consider, work out, and reflect on, and Taking Action in Your Classroom, in which concrete suggestions are provided for exploring specific teaching practices in the classroom. Tools, such as a lesson plan template, a task analysis guide, and practices for orchestrating productive discussions, are offered to assist teachers in applying the ideas discussed in the book to their own practices. For teachers who aspire to ambitious teaching that will provide each and every one of their students with more opportunities to experience mathematics as meaningful, challenging, and worthwhile, Taking Action: Implementing Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices in K—Grade 5 is certain to be your number one go-to resource.