![Mathematize It! [Grades 6-8] - Kimberly Morrow-Leong Corwin Mathematics Series](/cover_863768.jpg "Mathematize It! [Grades 6-8] - Kimberly Morrow-Leong")
where we’ve suggested you stop and talk with your colleagues. If you’re reading the book as part of a professional learning community, plan your discussions around these stopping points. You’ll find that there are plenty of opportunities for conversations about student thinking and the operations. But you’re never truly reading alone! Throughout each chapter you’ll find work samples inspired by student work. Several times in each chapter you’ll also find teacher commentary on the work samples. These comments are honest. Sometimes the teachers are bewildered, and sometimes the teachers are excited by what they see. Let these teacher voices be your companions as you tackle the new ideas. Use the teacher comments and the thinking breaks as reminders to take a pause and extend your own ideas a little further. The end of each chapter also has exercises and reflection questions that will help you and your colleagues connect what you’ve learned to your own classrooms.
After each chapter we also suggest that you look at the problems in your textbook and categorize them—not just for practice recognizing the structures you’ll soon learn about, but also to evaluate how much exposure your students are getting to the full range of problem types. If you discover that your textbook does not present enough variety, this book will give you the tools needed to make adjustments.
We recognize that many of the problems shared in this book will be unfamiliar contexts for your students. If you find yourself thinking that your students will not understand a problem context, we invite you take a moment to explore the new context and make sense of it. Or, change the problem! Make sense of the problem situation yourself so that you know what mathematical features are important and then change the details. Even better, invite your students to craft and pose their own meaningful word problems to solve. With your new understanding of the problem situations, you will have all the tools you need to guide your students.
We have to be honest. The ideas in this book may challenge your current understandings of some mathematical ideas. At times, we will ask you to look at something you have been doing since you were ten or eleven years old and revisit it with new eyes. This may cause some disequilibrium, and it may be uncomfortable at first. It’s as if we are asking you to walk but by switching the foot you lead with. (Try it! It’s not easy!) When the familiar becomes unfamiliar, we encourage you to take a deep breath, trust us, and lead with the other foot. We’ll get you there. Here’s to lifelong learning!
Acknowledgments
You can’t write a book like this in a vacuum. We have met and worked with countless educators over the years and have discussed the ideas in this book with them. You know who you are and we hope you hear your voice in these pages. Thank you for your contribution to these thoughts and ideas. We credit you and appreciate you deeply.
We would also like to thank Erin Null, who started with one vision of this book, received a draft of another interpretation, and worked with us to land on the third—and we think best—vision. Your patience, support, and diligence pushed us continually forward. We also extend a profound debt of gratitude to Paula Stacey, who asked us the questions we needed to answer in a way that made the manuscript better. As we finish the series of books, we recognize Amy Marks, Tori Mirsadjadi, Jessica Vidal, and the entire Corwin team for helping to keep our work consistent and presenting it so carefully.
Thank you also to Debbie Thomas, Barbara Dougherty, Kimberly Rimbey, Julie McNamara, Linda Levi, Terrie Galanti, Johnny Lott, and Jeff Shih, whose thoughtful comments challenged us to know better and do better. We are indebted to you for your positive feedback, but even more so for your constructive criticism. Any flaws that remain are ours alone.
I would first like to thank Linda and Sara for trusting me enough to invite me to join this project. I appreciate your confidence, but more than anything, I appreciate your friendship. I also want to thank Dr. Megan Murray of the University of Hull, who introduced me to the idea that addition and subtraction problems weren’t all the same. To the staff of GBW, Julie, Pat, Kim and her students, and Michelle and her friend the second-grade teacher: Thank you for sharing your time and brilliant students who have helped us collect and interpret their thinking from many different angles. I want to thank my daughter Cassandra and her friends for fielding random questions about math, chemistry, and physics at all hours of the day and night. The book is better because of your guidance. Finally, thank you to my husband, Greg, who watched me take the big leap of writing three books and never questioned my sanity.
—Kim
Thanks to Linda for starting us down this road with rich conversations. Thanks to Kim for coming on this journey with us. I appreciate your knowledge, your experience, your care, and your friendship. Thanks to Margie Mason, who first brought me into the world of mathematics education, and to all my friends and colleagues in this community, including those at ETA hand2mind and ORIGO Education, who have encouraged and supported me along the way. Thank you to the teachers who came before me, particularly my mother and grandmother, for showing me that learning is important and good teaching is invaluable. And thanks to Bill, for loving and supporting me always.
—Sara
Writing a book is always a challenge! While it seems that writing on a topic you feel passionate about should be easier, it is actually a bigger challenge because you want to get it right. I thank Kim and Sara for their vision and our many long conversations. I learned so much from both of you. I want to thank the elementary teachers and coaches with whom I work who challenge my thinking and force me to make ideas clearer. I thank my colleagues Ruth Harbin Miles, Annemarie Newhouse, and Jerry Moreno, whose friendship I value and who make this career a joy.
—Linda
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
Corwin gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the following reviewers:
Kevin Dykema
Middle School Math Teacher
Mattawan Middle School
Mattawan, MI
Julie McNamara
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education
California State University, East Bay
Hayward, CA
Kimberly Rimbey
Executive Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
Buckeye Elementary School District
Buckeye, AZ
About the Authors
Kimberly Morrow-Leongis an adjunct instructor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and a consultant for Math Solutions. She is a former grade 5–9 classroom teacher, researcher at American Institutes for Research, K–8 mathematics coach, and coordinator of elementary professional development for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). She recently completed an elected term as vice president and 2018 program chair for NCSM, Leadership in Mathematics Education. She holds a BA in French language and a master’s degree in linguistics (TESOL). She also holds an MEd and PhD in mathematics education leadership from George Mason University. Kim is the 2009 recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) from Virginia. She is happiest when working with teachers and students, putting pencils down and getting messy with manipulatives!
