Teaching Mathematics in the Visible Learning Classroom, Grades 6-8
About this ebook
In this sequel to the megawatt best seller Visible Learning for Mathematics, John Almarode, Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, John Hattie, and Kateri Thunder help you answer that question by showing how Visible Learning strategies look in action in the mathematics classroom. Walk in the shoes of middle school teachers as they engage in the 200 micro-decisions-per-minute needed to balance the strategies, tasks, and assessments seminal to high-impact mathematics instruction.
Using grade-leveled examples and a decision-making matrix, you’ll learn to
- Articulate clear learning intentions and success criteria at surface, deep, and transfer levels
- Employ evidence to guide students along the path of becoming metacognitive and self-directed mathematics achievers
- Use formative assessments to track what students understand, what they don’t, and why
- Select the right task for the conceptual, procedural, or application emphasis you want, ensuring the task is for the right phase of learning
- Adjust the difficulty and complexity of any task to meet the needs of all learners
It’s not only what works, but when. Exemplary lessons, video clips, and online resources help you leverage the most effective teaching practices at the most effective time to meet the surface, deep, and transfer learning needs of every student.
About the author
Dr. John Almarode is a bestselling author and an Associate Professor of Education at James Madison University. He was awarded the inaugural Sarah Miller Luck Endowed Professorship in 2015 and received an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia in 2021. Before his academic career, John started as a mathematics and science teacher in Augusta County, Virginia. As an author, John has written multiple educational books focusing on science and mathematics, and he has co-created a new framework for developing, implementing, and sustaining professional learning communities called PLC+. Dr. Almarode′s work has been presented to the US Congress, the Virginia Senate, and the US Department of Education. One of his recent projects includes developing the Distance Learning Playbook for College and University Instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.Continuing his collaborative work with colleagues on what works best in teaching and learning, How Tutoring Works, Visible Learning in Early Childhood, and How Learning Works, all with Corwin Press, were released in 2021.
Douglas Fisher is professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Previously, Doug was an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He is a credentialed teacher and leader in California. In 2022, he was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame by the Literacy Research Association. He has published widely on literacy, quality instruction, and assessment, as well as books such as Welcome to Teaching, PLC+, Teaching Students to Drive their Learning, and Student Assessment: Better Evidence, Better Decisions, Better Learning.
Joseph Michael Assof is a high school and community college mathematics teacher and the math department chair at Health Sciences High and Middle College in San Diego, CA. He is also an educational consultant and presents internationally on a wide array of topics including teacher clarity, mathematics teaching and learning, visible learning, and more. Joseph coauthored Teaching Mathematics in the Visible Learning Classroom, High School, Teaching Mathematics in the Visible Learning Classroom, Grades 6–8, and The Teacher Clarity Playbook, and his classroom is featured in a number of Visible Learning for Mathematics, Grades K–12 videos. Joseph holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics and a doctorate in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in Mathematics Teacher Leadership. Mathematics and mathematics education are Joseph’s second passion—his first being his two beautiful boys, Joseph Fred and Jamie Beau.
Sara Delano Moore is an independent mathematics education consultant at SDM Learning. A fourth-generation educator, her work focuses on helping teachers and students understand mathematics as a coherent and connected discipline through the power of deep understanding and multiple representations for learning. Sara has worked as a classroom teacher of mathematics and science in the elementary and middle grades, a mathematics teacher educator, Director of the Center for Middle School Academic Achievement for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and Director of Mathematics & Science at ETA hand2mind. Her journal articles appear in Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, Teaching Children Mathematics, Science & Children, and Science Scope.
John Hattie, PhD, is an award-winning education researcher and best-selling author with nearly thirty years of experience examining what works best in student learning and achievement. His research, better known as Visible Learning, is a culmination of nearly thirty years synthesizing more than 2,100 meta-analyses comprising more than one hundred thousand studies involving over 300 million students around the world. He has presented and keynoted in over three hundred international conferences and has received numerous recognitions for his contributions to education. His notable publications include Visible Learning, Visible Learning for Teachers, Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn; Visible Learning for Mathematics, Grades K-12; and 10 Mindframes for Visible Learning.
Nancy Frey is professor of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Previously, Nancy was a teacher, academic coach, and central office resource coordinator in Florida. She is a credentialed special educator, reading specialist, and administrator in California. She is a member of the International Literacy Association’s Literacy Research Panel. She has published widely on literacy, quality instruction, and assessment, as well as books such as The Artificial Intelligences Playbook, How Scaffolding Works, How Teams Work, and The Vocabulary Playbook.
