Strengths-Based Teaching and Learning in Mathematics: Five Teaching Turnarounds for Grades K-6(Corwin Mathematics Series)

"This book is a game changer! Strengths-Based Teaching and Learning in Mathematics: 5 Teaching Turnarounds for Grades K- 6 goes beyond simply providing information by sharing a pathway for changing practice. . . Focusing on our students’ strengths should be routine and can be lost in the day-to-day teaching demands. A teacher using these approaches can change the trajectory of students’ lives forever. All teachers need this resource!     Connie S. Schrock Emporia State University National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics President, 2017-2019 NEW COVID RESOURCES ADDED:  A Parent’s Toolkit to Strengths-Based Learning in Math is now available on the book’s companion website to support families engaged in math learning at home. This toolkit provides a variety of home-based activities and games for families to engage in together. Your game plan for unlocking mathematics by focusing on students’ strengths. We often evaluate student thinking and their work from a deficit point of view, particularly in mathematics, where many teachers have been taught that their role is to diagnose and eradicate students’ misconceptions. But what if instead of focusing on what students don’t know or haven’t mastered, we identify their mathematical strengths and build next instructional steps on students’ points of power? Beth McCord Kobett and Karen S. Karp answer this question and others by highlighting five key teaching turnarounds for improving students’ mathematics learning: identify teaching strengths, discover and leverage students’ strengths, design instruction from a strengths-based perspective, help students identify their points of power, and promote strengths in the school community and at home. Each chapter provides opportunities to stop and consider current practice, reflect, and transfer practice while also sharing ·         Downloadable resources, activities, and tools ·         Examples of student work within Grades K–6 ·         Real teachers’ notes and reflections for discussion It’s time to turn around our approach to mathematics instruction, end deficit thinking, and nurture each student’s mathematical strengths by emphasizing what makes them each unique and powerful. 

Table of Contents:
Foreword Introduction – An Invitation to Turnaround Why Strengths-Based Instruction? Who is Strengths-Based Mathematics Teaching For? What are Mathematics Strengths we See in Students? Exploring Your Own Math Identity Moving to a Strengths-Based Perspective Practices that Build a Strengths Cycle The Five Teaching Turnarounds Chapter 1 - Identify Your Teaching Strengths What Do You Believe About Your Students′ Learning? What Do Students Think You Believe? Summary Chapter 2 - Turnaround Mathematical Proficiencies, Processes, and Practices Building Mathematical Proficiency Through a Strengths-Based Lens Building Mathematical Practices and Dispositions Through a Strengths-Based Lens Building Strengths in Problem Solving Building Strengths in Communication Building Strengths in Reasoning and Proof Building Strengths in Connections Building Strengths in Representations Summary Chapter 3 - Your Students’ Mathematics Content Strengths Building Mathematical Content Knowledge Through a Strengths-Based Lens Building and Recognizing Strengths in the Meaning of Number and Operations and Algebraic Thinking Count to show how numbers represent quantity Count to show how numbers represent quantity Develop Strategies to Add, Subtract, Multiply, and Divide Building and Recognizing Strengths in Understanding Number and Operations - Fractions Building and Recognizing Strengths in Geometry van Heile’s Geometric Conceptual Understanding Level 0: Visualization van Heile’s Geometric Conceptual Understanding Level 1: Analysis Summary Chapter 4 – Turnaround Grouping Practices Planning Effective Strength-Based Instruction Fixed versus Flexible Grouping Practices Long-Term Whole-Class Ability Grouping Small-Group In-Class Ability Grouping Flexible Grouping Strategies Strength’s Based Flexible Grouping Practices Mixed-Strength Whole-Group Instruction Homogeneous-Strength Small Groups Targeted Small Group Instruction Through a Strengths-Based Lens Summary Chapter 5 – Turnaround Tasks High Cognitive Tasks Turnaround a Task: Designing a Personalized, Strengths-Based Instructional Task Individualized Personalization Funds of Knowledge Three Perspectives for Adapting a Task to Support Student′s Strengths Access and Equity Mathematical Goals Formative Assessment Promoting Strengths Through Parallel Tasks Exploratory Discourse About Tasks Math Amendments: Revising the Task Solution Summary Chapter 6 - Turnaround Feedback The Importance of Feedback in a Strengths-Based Classroom Teacher-to-Student Feedback From a Strengths Perspective Teacher to Student Feedback Loop Elements of Teacher to Student Feedback Student-to-Teacher Feedback from a Strengths Perspective Prior to the Lesson During the Lesson Closing the Lesson Student-to-Student Feedback from a Strengths Perspective Classroom-Based Formative Assessment and Feedback Observation Interview Show Me Hinge Question Exit Task Summary Chapter 7 - Turnaround Students’ Identities Windows and Mirrors Our Teacher Mirror Translation Task Don′t Miss an Opportunity to Recognize a Student′s Points of Power Students′ Productive Dispositions Students Self Analyze their Strong Points Summary Chapter 8 - Turnaround Professional Learning Communities Supporting Teachers′ Strengths The Appreciative Inquiry (AI) Framework Whole School Agreement Summary Chapter 9 - Turnaround Family Communication Engaging Families in Strengths-Based Talk Incorporating Family and Community Strengths Working Together to Share Mathematical Ideas Family Math Resources Conferences with Family Members from a Strengths-Based Perspective Summary Epilogue - Turnaround Reflection References

About the Author :
Beth McCord Kobett serves as Professor and Dean in the School of Education at Stevenson University, where she works closely with early childhood, elementary, and middle school preservice teachers. She brings experience as a classroom teacher, mathematics specialist, and university supervisor.  Beth served on the NCTM Board and served as president of Association of Maryland Mathematics Teacher Educators. Beth has authored ten mathematics education books and supports professional learning efforts nationwide. She has been honored with awards such as the MCTM Mathematics Educator of the Year and Stevenson’s Rose Dawson Award for Excellence in Teaching. Deeply committed to her students, she strives to create a supportive, strengths-based learning environment that fosters curiosity, collaboration, and meaningful growth.  Karen S. Karp is a mathematics educator who focuses on the intersection of mathematics education and special education.  She is a former professor at Johns Hopkins University and at the University of Louisville where she is professor emerita. Early in her career she received a Development Award from the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation to support more seamless integration between general education and special education. She is the author or co-author of numerous publications including Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Intervention in the Elementary Grades and Elementary and Middle School Mathematics. Karen was on the writing team of the NCTM/CEC Joint position statement on Teaching Mathematics to Students with Learning Disabilities. In 2024, she chaired the Topic Study Group on Teaching Mathematics to Students with Special Needs at the International Congress on Mathematical Education in Australia. She holds teaching/administrative certifications in elementary education, secondary mathematics, K-12 special education, and K-12 educational administration. 

Review :
"Too many of us perseverate on "fixing" our students and ourselves. Focusing instead on the strengths students bring to the classroom and redirecting the effective practices we already employ, Kobett and Karp turn this thinking on its head. By leveraging their tools and protocols we can confront and unpack our beliefs, transform our instruction, and create the positive and supportive learning environments our students deserve. This is an indispensable resource for educators committed to ensuring that each and every student experiences joy, wonder, and success in mathematics!" "Rarely does one find a text that provides both the aspirational vision and inspirational mission to transform both the striving mathematics educator and the student mathematician. Educators will be moved to embrace, then promote change through their work with Drs. Kobett and Karp’s innovative strengths-based approach to teaching and learning mathematics. Kobett and Karp invite all math stakeholders to discover their own strengths from which to build a stronger foundation in the teaching and learning of mathematics." "I love this book! More and more people are talking about the need to build on student strengths instead of focusing on their deficits, but doing this can seem unrealistic to a teacher. The authors not only elaborate what it means to build on student strengths, they offer concrete strategies for how to do it. Starting with the necessary step of looking at one’s own teaching strengths, they offer practical guidelines and examples that lay out a path teachers can use to turn around their teaching and their students’ learning." "This book is a must-read for every stakeholder in the education system! The authors challenge us to acknowledge the damaging impact of deficit-based beliefs and provide concrete ways to leverage strengths in ourselves and in our students to create mathematics classrooms where students flourish." "This book provides teachers with a wealth of resources for uncovering and nurturing students mathematical strengths. By focusing on recognizing and building on students’ strengths rather than identifying their deficiencies, the authors have mapped out a pathway for creating instructional experiences that support the learning and identity development of each and every student. This is a must-have for all elementary teachers!" "This book provides a clear, rich, strong rebuttal to "my kids can’t." Kobett and Karp help us focus on our students’ unique perspectives, talents, and strengths as well as our students’ capabilities with mathematics practices and content. More important, they help us take stock of who we are. They help us identify aspects of our practice that are strong and those that are ready for a turnaround. They teach us about these turnarounds and describe how we can realize them effectively. This is a must-have for transforming "they can’t" into "they can."" "Where do beliefs and pedagogy meet? In a world in which we are often asked to find flaws and weaknesses, this book is a breath of fresh air and reminds us that the best way to teach  is to build from our strengths. Filled with research-based ideas, practical strategies, and tools, this book provides a comprehensive approach to creating asset-based learning environments by identifying and leveraging the strengths of students, teachers, schools, and caretakers." "This well-written book is a game changer! Strengths-Based Teaching and Learning in Mathematics: Five Teaching Turnarounds for Grades K–6 goes beyond simply providing information by sharing a pathway for changing practice. The authors start with reflective activities allowing teachers to examine their beliefs and explore their teaching strengths. Using the Teaching Turnarounds will transform classrooms. Focusing on our students’ strengths should be routine and can be lost in the day-to-day teaching demands. A teacher using these approaches can change the trajectory of students’ lives forever. All teachers need this resource!" "Drs. Kobett and Karp offer teachers a positive and practical way of using Appreciative Inquiry to put spotlight on teachers’ instructional practices to celebrate their strength and support teachers to dream, design and deliver innovative ways to bring more equitable teaching practices to the forefront. By reimagining instruction focused on strengths-based teaching that leverage and put spotlight on students’ abilities to use representations and reasoning, the authors unpack rich tasks by delving into the development of learning progressions in important mathematics as well as situate mathematics within contexts that students can relate to while bridging mathematics closer to students’ lived experiences." "Strengths-Based Teaching and Learning in Mathematics: Five Teaching Turnarounds for Grades K–6 forces the reader to become extremely reflective about their own individual identity in mathematics and implementation of effective teaching practices/strategies. How many students have we lost or have allowed to feel defeated in learning mathematics because we didn’t teach by harnessing the power of their strengths? This book intersperses time for this type of reflection as one identifies your own strengths, your individual math identity, as well as the inclusion of the numerous "spotlights on practices" to support successful implementation in the classroom. As one considers how to help students develop a growth mindset in mathematics, this book must become an essential resource. There are concrete examples to illustrate how this becomes visible in the classroom—all with the goal of helping students develop their identity, authority, and agency in mathematics. We lose too many students in mathematics; too many students hear that they have gaps, are deficit, or are stigmatized by having to endure endless intervention programs in mathematics. Instead this book uses subtleties, helps you focus on yourself as a teacher of mathematics, and provides explicit examples to harnesses the strengths of all students in mathematics. This will do a lot to change negative student self-images. I love this book!" "Finally the book that good teachers have been waiting for: a book that focuses not on what students cannot do, but on what they can. This needed book offers teachers a positive, productive way to rethink teaching and learning in mathematics and would be ideal for a school- or districtwide book study." "Anytime you purchase a resource book in mathematics, you hope that it does an inspirational delivery of its title. In Strengths-Based Teaching and Learning in Mathematics: Five Teaching Turnarounds for Grades K–6, the authors have gone above and beyond the book’s high expectations. Kobett and Karp have masterfully tapped into the zeitgeist of contemporary math education and written a book that oozes with not just empathy, reflection, and candor but with clear and motivating practicality that will transform any math classroom into a place of community, hope, and unbridled strength."