More Good Questions

Learn how to differentiate math instruction to help all students be successful learners in the secondary mathematics classroom.

Featuring 89 new questions, this revised edition uses two powerful and universally applicable strategies—Open Questions and Parallel Tasks—to help teachers differentiate instruction with less difficulty and greater success.

This popular book shows teachers how to get started and become expert with these strategies, demonstrating how to use more inclusive learning conversations to promote broader student participation and how to formatively assess understanding. Strategies and examples are organized around Big Ideas and reference common standards. With particular emphasis on algebra, chapters also address number and operations, geometry, measurement including trigonometry, and data analysis and probability.

Updated with many new examples and expanded guidelines for teachers to create their own open tasks and questions, More Good Questions, Second Edition is designed to allow students to respond from their own expertise level and to also come together as a math community for the conceptual conversation around a math problem.

Book Features:

• Underscores the rationale for differentiating instruction (DI) with nearly 300 specific examples for grades 6–12 math.
• Describes easy-to-implement strategies designed to overcome the most common DI problems that teachers encounter.
• Offers questions and tasks that teachers and coaches can adopt immediately or use as models to create their own, along with scaffolding and consolidating questions.
• Includes Teaching Tips sidebars and an organizing template at the end of each chapter to help teachers build new tasks and open questions.
• Shows how to create a more inclusive classroom learning community with mathematical talk that engages participants from all levels.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Visit Marian Small’s website onetwoinfinity.ca for in-person and online professional development.

Marian Small is an international professional developer, conference speaker, bestselling author, a former dean of education at the University of New Brunswick, and longtime professor of mathematics education. Visit Marian’s website at www.onetwoinfinity.ca for in-person and online professional development. Amy Lin is the director of teaching and learning at Seneca College. Amy has worked as a teacher in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels and as a mathematics coach, a curriculum consultant, administrator, and ministry researcher.

“ More Good Questions supports readers in enacting, improving, and maintaining differentiation practices within their own classroom context.”

—Teachers College Record

Praise for the First Edition—

"This is a valuable book for mathematics teachers, teacher educators, and faculty involved in differentiated instruction."

—Choice

"This book is a great resource, with realistic applications to current instruction and tips for creating solid math discourse with your students."

—Mathematics: Teaching in the Middle School

"A must for any educator who is serious about reaching more students more often and achieving more positive results."

—Resources for the Mathematics Educator

"The glossary is a great resource for math language, and the index of big ideas provides a snapshot of focus points…I highly recommend this user-friendly resource for all mathematics teachers

—Teaching Children Mathematics

“The more I read, the more excited I got, because this book answers the question that is on the tip of every teacher’s tongue: How do I reach all my students, when my students are all over the place? The plethora of examples of questions and tasks, along with suggestions for variations and teaching tips, give teachers everything to do this and to do it well.”
—From the Foreword by Nicki Newton, author and education consultant

“This book provides teachers with an invaluable source of questions that are not only good for getting students to think, but are also clearly linked to curriculum—something every teacher wants.”
—Peter Liljedahl, professor, Simon Fraser University

Contents

Foreword, by Nicki Newton vii
Preface ix
Organization of the Book ix
Organization of the Content Chapters x
Changes in the Second Edition xi
Acknowledgments xiii

1 Why and How to Differentiate Math Instruction 1
The Challenge in Math Classrooms 1
The Particular Challenge in Grades 6–12 2
What It Means to Meet Student Needs 2
Assessing Students’ Needs 3
Principles and Approaches to Differentiating Instruction 3
Two Core Strategies for Differentiating Mathematics Instruction: Open Questions and Parallel Tasks 7
Creating a Math Talk Community 14

2 Algebra and Functions 17
Topics 17
The Big Ideas for Algebra and Functions 18
Open Questions for Grades 6–8 19
Open Questions for Grades 9–12 31
Parallel Tasks for Grades 6–8 52
Parallel Tasks for Grades 9–12 60
Summing Up 70

3 Number 71
Topics 71
The Big Ideas for Number 72
Open Questions for Grades 6–8 72
Open Questions for Grades 9–12 82
Parallel Tasks for Grades 6–8 88
Parallel Tasks for Grades 9–12 96
Summing Up 100

4 Geometry 101
Topics 101
The Big Ideas for Geometry 102
Open Questions for Grades 6–8 103
Open Questions for Grades 9–12 111
Parallel Tasks for Grades 6–8 119
Parallel Tasks for Grades 9–12 124
Summing Up 128

5 Measurement 129
Topics 129
The Big Ideas for Measurement 130
Open Questions for Grades 6–8 131
Open Questions for Grades 9–12 139
Parallel Tasks for Grades 6–8 150
Parallel Tasks for Grades 9–12 154
Summing Up 160

6 Statistics and Probability 161
Topics 161
The Big Ideas for Statistics and Probability 162
Open Questions for Grades 6–8 163
Open Questions for Grades 9–12 174
Parallel Tasks for Grades 6–8 182
Parallel Tasks for Grades 9–12 191
Summing Up 198

Conclusions 199
The Need for Manageable Strategies 199
Developing Open Questions and Parallel Tasks 200
The Benefits of These Strategies 201

Appendix A: Mathematical Practices Addressed in This Resource 203
Appendix B: Worksheet for Open Questions and Parallel Tasks 204
Glossary 206
Bibliography 220
Index 222
Index of Subjects and Cited Authors 222
Index of Big Ideas 224
About the Authors 226

Copublished with and available in Canada exclusively from Rubicon Publishing Inc: www.rubiconpublishing.com

Download worksheet in PDF form here.