"So What?": Teaching Children What Matters in Math

It's no wonder so many adults and children feel mathematically inadequate. Benchmarks are anticipated . . . standards and rubrics are established . . . guidelines and content are set-all before the teacher even meets the child. In "So What?" Tim Brandy invites teachers to step back and envision a more authentic approach to mathematics instruction-one that is relevant to children's worlds and reflective of their natural inclinations.

Brandy draws upon his twenty years of experience in the classroom to address some of the critical challenges of mathematics reform: How can we create situations for our students that will allow them to experience the excitement and satisfaction of deriving strategies and concepts as they pursue questions they choose? How can we allow them the time and support to develop their thinking? How can we stop covering textbooks and begin uncovering roadways to mathematical thinking? "So What?" is a fascinating account of the transformation of Brandy's teaching, with implications that reach far beyond his classroom.

Brandy states, "It is our responsibility to find what matters for children and create the environment where the possibility of pursuit exists." "So What?" offers guidance and inspiration for those looking to meet that challenge.

Tim Brandy has been engaged in math for more than forty-six years, from counting on his fingers to the study of physics and complexity theory. For the last twenty-one of those years he has taught elementary through high school. Many of the ideas in this book came from Brandy's work in an alternative community-based program that he cocreated at Walker Elementary School in Ashland, Oregon.