Maggie B. McGatha – författare

Math coaches wear many hats. You think on your feet and have to invent, react, and respond—often without time to prepare—in a myriad of professional contexts. What’s your go-to resource for support?   

Plan, focus, and lead: Your toolkit for inspiring math teachers 

Meet Everything You Need For Mathematics Coaching: Tools, Plans, and a Process That Works for Any Instructional Leader. This one-stop, comprehensive toolkit for improving mathematics instruction and learning is designed for busy math coaches and teacher leaders who often have to rely on their own competencies. Using the Leading for Mathematical Proficiency Framework, the authors position student outcomes as the focus of all professional work and connect the Eight Mathematical Practices for students with NCTM’s Eight Effective Teaching Practices to help you guide teachers toward growing mathematics proficiency in their classrooms.  

This hands-on resource details critical coaching and teaching actions, and offers nearly a hundred tools for: 

Shifting classroom practice in a way that leads to student math proficiency and understanding of mathematical concepts. Honing in on key areas, including content knowledge and worthwhile tasks, student engagement, questioning and discourse, analysis of student work, formative assessment, support for emergent language learners and students with special needs, and more. Navigating a coaching conversation. Planning and facilitating professional learning communities. Finding a focus for professional development or a learning cycle. Making connections between professional learning activities, teaching, and student learning. Using the coaching cycle—plan, gather data, reflect—to build trust and rapport with teachers.  

With examples from the field, a comprehensive list of resources for effective coaching, and a plethora of tools you can download and share with teachers, this toolkit is your must-have guide to designing a professional learning plan and leading with clarity and purpose.

Elementary mathematics specialists are teacher leaders who are responsible for supporting effective PK–6 mathematics instruction and student learning. The Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE), the Association of State Supervisors of Mathematics, the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, in a 2010 joint position paper on Elementary Mathematics Specialists (EMSs), all advocate for the use of EMSs to support the teaching and learning of mathematics. The specific roles and expectations of EMSs will vary according to the needs of each setting, 'but their expertise and successful experience at the elementary level is critical' (p 1).Elementary Mathematics Specialists: Developing, Refining, and Examining Programs that Support Mathematics Teaching and Learning is AMTE’s latest resource supporting the important work of EMSs. It has five sections related to the preparation and professional development of EMSs: (a) Overview and Current State of Affairs; (b) Models of EMS Program Development & Delivery; (c) Supporting EMSs in the Field; (d) The Mathematics Specialist Research; and (e) Future Directions. The book provides support to EMS practitioners, program providers/developers, and researchers seeking to answer important questions about how to prepare Mathematics Specialists, support them in the field, and research their effectiveness.