Dr. Marian Small has written a landmark book for a wide range of educational settings and audiences, from pre-service math methods courses to ongoing professional learning for experienced teachers. Understanding the Math We Teach and How to Teach It, K-8 focuses on the big mathematical ideas in elementary and middle school grade levels and shows how to teach those concepts using a student-centered, problem-solving approach.

Comprehensive and Readable: Dr. Small helps all teachers deepen their content knowledge by illustrating core mathematical themes with sample problems, clear visuals, and plain language Big Focus on Student Thinking: The book’s tools, models. and discussion questions are designed to understand student thinking and nudge it forward. Particularly popular features include charts listing common student misconceptions and ways to address them, a table of suggested manipulatives for each topic, and a list of related children’s book
Implementing Standards That Make Sense: By focusing on key mathematics principles, Understanding the Math We Teach and How to Teach It, K-8 helps to explain the whys of state standards and provides teachers with a deeper understanding of number sense, operations, algebraic thinking, geometry, and other critical topics

Dr. Small, a former dean with more than 40 years in the field, conceived the book as an essential guide for teachers throughout their career: Many teachers who teach at the K-8 level have not had the luxury of specialist training in mathematics, yet they are expected to teach an increasingly sophisticated curriculum to an increasingly diverse student population in a climate where there are heightened public expectations. They deserve help.