Description

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"This book is an amazing resource for teachers who are struggling to help students develop both procedural fluency and conceptual understanding..."
                                                                                                                       --Dr. Margaret (Peg) Smith, co-author of 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematical Discussions

Robert Kaplinsky, the co-creator of Open Middle math problems, brings his new class of tasks designed to stimulate deeper thinking and lively discussion among middle and high school students in Open Middle Math: Problems That Unlock Student Thinking, Grades 6-12. The problems are characterized by a “closed beginning,” meaning all students start with the same initial problem, and a “closed end,” meaning there is only one correct or optimal answer. The key is that the middle is “open” in the sense that there are multiple ways to approach and ultimately solve the problem. These tasks have proven enormously popular with teachers looking to assess and deepen student understanding, build student stamina, and energize their classrooms.
 

• Professional Learning Resource for Teachers: Open Middle Math is an indispensable resource for educators interested in teaching student-centered mathematics in middle and high schools consistent with the national and state standards
• Sample Problems at Each Grade: The book demonstrates the Open Middle concept with sample problems ranging from dividing fractions at 6th grade to algebra, trigonometry, and calculus
• Teaching Tips for Student-Centered Math Classrooms: Kaplinsky shares guidance on choosing problems, designing your own math problems, and teaching for multiple purposes, including formative assessment, identifying misconceptions, procedural fluency, and conceptual understanding
• Adaptable and Accessible Math: The tasks can be solved using various strategies at different levels of sophistication, which means all students can access the problems and participate in the conversation

Open Middle Math will help math teachers transform the 6th -12th grade classroom into an environment focused on problem solving, student dialogue, and critical thinking.
 

                                                                                                                                                  

About the Author

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Robert Kaplinsky has worked in education since 2003 as a classroom teacher, teacher specialist for Downey Unified School District, instructor for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and presenter at conferences around the world. He’s also the co-founder of the website OpenMiddle.com, as well as the Southern California Math Teacher Specialist Network, a group that includes over 200 math teacher specialists from more than five countries. His work has been published by the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Education Week, and many others. 

Praise For…

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“This book is an amazing resource for teachers who are striving to help students develop both procedural fluency and conceptual understanding.” – Dr. Margaret “Peg” Smith

"Open Middle Math is a quick read. A must read.  A read with the potential for immediate transformation of the quality of discourse in your classroom." - Sara VanDerWerf
 

“If you are seeking to challenge your students' thinking and build their conceptual understanding, Open Middle Math: Problems That Unlock Student Thinking, Grades 6--12 is a must-have resource.” – Dr. Kristopher J. Childs

“WARNING: Your students may not leave your mathematics classroom when the bell rings if you start using Open Middle tasks.” - Sara VanDerWerf

"The mathematics education community will simply devour this delicious book" - Lauren Baucom

"In reading and applying Open Middle Math, I feel like I have an experienced coach cheering me on!” – Cathy Yenca

“Robert Kaplinsky's Open Middle Math provides teachers with readymade resources and practical strategies so their students can enjoy learning math through challenging problems they’ll look forward to solving.” – Andrew Stadel
 

“Robert offers teachers strategies for adding openness and richness to problems that are at first closed and meager.” – Dan Meyer
 

Open Middle Math gives teachers valuable guidance on creating safe and discovery-rich conversational spaces where students find learning math can be fun.
— Carole Seubert

Robert Kaplinsky's Open Middle Math provides teachers with ready-made resources and practical strategies so their students can enjoy learning math through challenging problems they’ll look forward to solving.
— Andrew Stadel

This book is an amazing resource for teachers who are striving to help students develop both procedural fluency and conceptual understanding. Open Middle problems provide students with the opportunity to move beyond traditional procedural practice problems to explore mathematical relationships more deeply. In addition, Open Middle problems provide teachers with insights into what students really understand about the procedures they learned and important formative assessment data they can use to modify instruction. This book is a very practical guide to implementing a new class of tasks that have the potential to improve student learning!

— Dr. Margaret Smith

Do you ever wish you could get a glimpse into a designer’s mind for how they implement their innovation? Robert Kaplinsky’s Open Middle Math gives educators an inside look into how Open Middle problems are designed to assist students to engage in, learn from, and persevere in productive struggle. Robert has always been willing to share his learning progress, struggles, and mistakes openly. Through his humility, he encourages readers to remember the joy that comes with productively struggling with a mathematics problem, and that we often learn more from the journey of solving than arriving at a solution. The mathematics education community will simply devour this delicious book.

— Lauren Baucom

Robert offers teachers strategies for adding openness and richness to problems that are at first closed and meager. So take heart, teachers! The interest and learning of your students aren’t dictated by the problems in your textbook as you first find them, only by your imagination and design.

— Dan Meyer

WARNING: Your students may not leave your mathematics classroom when the bell rings if you start using Open Middle tasks. In his book, Robert Kaplinsky gives math educators a roadmap to effectively implement Open Middle Math with tips, multiple examples at each secondary level, answers to the ‘what ifs,’ resources, and structures for creating your own tasks. . . . Open Middle Math is a quick read. A must-read. A read with the potential for immediate transformation of the quality of discourse in your classroom.”

— Sara Vanderwerf