Heavy on the science and art of teaching high school math, dry on material display., September 12, 2007 The significance of this book in educational reform that aims at standardizing institutionalized education. Ensuring that the government delivers what it promises, in the field of shaping the minds of the new generations, has gained growing emphasis in many nations across the Globe. This book devotes its entire contents to 79 strategies of executing well-tested and established standards for teaching mathematics in high school. Compared to Harry K. Wang's "The First Days Of School", the current authors have contributed plenty of practical and theoretical research yet delegated their book's layout to a publisher with little concern of the friendly readability or attractive style of display of the book material. Relatively speaking, Wong relied merely on his personal experience yet managed to produce more attractive material display with his self-publishing and dedicated style. On the subject matter, this book covers six, logically connected, aspects of teaching high school mathematics. The book starts with the strategies of "managing" the classroom environment and proceeds to strategies on the processes of "delivery" through teaching techniques, "reception" in student learning, and "measuring" through assessing students' progress. The four-process strategies are discussed in the first four chapters. Chapter five then refines the "delivery" process yet on problem solving, while chapter six refines the "reception" process yet on the social aspects of the receptors. On the six aspects of teaching, the authors stuck to a simple and consistent methodology in reconciling research materials with the standards and principals of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and in applying such strategies to the classroom. The authors then discussed the precautions and pitfalls and followed by a reference source on each strategy. Extensive list of references is also enclosed at the end of the book. On each proposed teaching strategy, the authors answer four fundamental questions: - - What trends were observed in experimental research? -- What standards are adopted by the NCTM? - - How to utilize those trends and standards in practical teaching? - - What precautions should be taken/pitfalls should be expected in doing so? On the book's outline, dryness of material display and lack of emphasizing tactics could have been avoided with minimal improvement. For example, the seventy nine strategies were listed in the table of contents in the form of lengthy sentences that spanned two lines or more. Such lengthy description of the 79 strategies renders their recollection or dissemination quite laboring. Strategy number 19 was the only one depicted in two words: "Praise Mistakes". I would rather truncate the four line description of strategy number 41, in the table of contents, for example, into few words such as: "Structuring Homework Assignment", which should also include strategies number 42 and 43. Had the 79 strategies been grouped under the six chapters, as sub-items, there would have been logical connection between their numbering and purpose. Six grouped strategies are less overwhelming than 79, in my opinion. Although each strategy is well contained in few pages, there seems to be no use of modern font graying, bolding, or italicizing that emphasizes the main concepts in many long paragraphs. For example, in strategy number 46, emphasis could have been added by bolding the examples of high-level thinking objectives versus the low-level thinking objectives in the lengthy paragraph on research. Similar emphasis could have been made in the paragraph on the NCTM standards, yet on the most significant thought in that lengthy paragraph. Such modern techniques of enhancing book's readability not only extend the longevity and marketability of the publication, but also facilitate referencing and progression of thoughts on the attended topics. On the book's main objective, it conveys the authors' emphasis on the fact that teaching is an evolving process that is founded on concerted efforts to understand the multiple variables that influence the management, delivery, reception, and assessment endeavors of the institutionalized educational process. The authors' work has further evolved into a newer one, "Exemplary Practices for Secondary Math Teachers", and picked a third contributor, in their course of developing their craft. One must however note that the current two authors have not delineated the specific contributions of each one of them. That leaves the reader uncertain on whose ideas have dominated certain aspects of the book than others. The newer title also addresses the practice of teaching rather than the teacher, which narrows the gap between the authors and the readers. Putting substance over form, however, the 79 strategies of teaching high school math are grouped concisely in an appropriate book size and supported by classroom application that lend the busy and consumed teachers a helping hand in adhering to the professional standards and in furthering their research and bettering their craft.
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