The Mathematics Lesson-Planning Handbook, Grades 6-8: Your Blueprint for Building Cohesive Lessons
About this ebook
When it comes to planning mathematics lessons, do you sometimes feel burdened? Have you ever scrambled for an activity to engage your students that aligns with your state standards? Do you ever look at a recommended mathematics lesson plan and think, "This will never work for my students"?
The Mathematics Lesson-Planning Handbook: Your Blueprint for Building Cohesive Lessons, Grades 6–8 walks you step by step through the process of planning focused, research-based mathematics lessons that enhance the coherence, rigor, and purpose of state standards and address the unique learning needs of your individual students. This resource deepens the daily lesson-planning process for middle school teachers and offers practical guidance for merging routines, resources, and effective teaching techniques into an individualized and manageable set of lesson plans.
The effective planning process helps you
- Identify learning intentions and connect goals to success criteria
- Select resources and worthwhile tasks that make the best use of instructional materials
- Structure lessons differently for traditional and block middle school schedules
- Anticipate student misconceptions and evaluate understanding using a variety of formative assessment techniques
- Facilitate questioning, encourage productive struggle, and close lessons with reflection techniques
This author team of seasoned mathematics educators make lesson planning practical and doable with a useful lesson-planning template and real-life examples from Grades 6–8 classrooms. Chapter by chapter, the decision-making strategies empower teachers to plan mathematics lessons strategically, to teach with intention and confidence, and to build purposeful, rigorous, coherent lessons that lead to mathematics achievement for all learners.
About the author
After teaching mathematics in grades K-8 for 20 years, Lois served as the middle school mathematics specialist for the Virginia Department of Education. Here she worked on curriculum and teacher professional learning. She served the Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics and was a board member for the local Jefferson Council of Teachers of Mathematics. After receiving her doctorate in curriculum and instruction at The University of Virginia, she began serving as adjunct faculty to Mary Baldwin College and is in her 15th year working with pre-service teachers. Currently Lois is an International Fellow with the Charles A. Dana Center working with classroom teachers in the Department of Defense Schools helping them implement their College and Career Readiness Standards. Among her recognitions are a Fulbright Teacher Exchange and Virginia Middle School Mathematics Teacher of the Year.
Beth McCord Kobett, EdD, is Professor of Education and Associate Dean at Stevenson University, where she leads, teaches and supports early childhood, elementary, and middle preservice teachers in mathematics education. She is a former classroom teacher, elementary mathematics specialist, adjunct professor, and university supervisor. Beth also served as the Director of the First Year Seminar program at Stevenson University. She recently completed a three-year term as an elected Board Member for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and was the former president of the Association of Maryland Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMMTE). Beth leads professional learning efforts in mathematics education both regionally and nationally. Beth is a recipient of the Mathematics Educator of the Year Award from the Maryland Council of Teachers of Mathematics (MCTM) and the Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni Award. Beth also received Stevenson University’s Rose Dawson Award for Excellence in Teaching as both an adjunct and full-time faculty member. Beth believes in fostering a strengths-based community with her students and strives to make her learning space inviting, facilitate lessons that spark curiosity and innovation, and cultivate positive productive struggle.
Ruth Harbin Miles coaches rural, suburban, and inner-city school mathematics teachers. Her professional experiences include coordinating the K-12 Mathematics Teaching and Learning Program for the Olathe, Kansas, Public Schools for more than 25 years; teaching mathematics methods courses at Virginia’s Mary Baldwin College; and serving on the Board of Directors for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematic, and both the Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the Kansas Association of Teachers of Mathematics. Ruth is a co-author of five Corwin books including A Guide to Mathematics Coaching, A Guide to Mathematics Leadership, Visible Thinking in the K-8 Mathematics Classroom, The Common Core Mathematics Standards, and Realizing Rigor in the Mathematics Classroom. As co-owner of Happy Mountain Learning, Ruth specializes in developing teachers’ content knowledge and strategies for engaging students to achieve high standards in mathematics.
