This is the cover of my upcoming book about math pedagogy. Art teacher / artist Briana Loewinsohn created the image, based on this photo I came across ages ago:
“There is no one way” has long been the slogan for my website and blog. It was inspired by the story of the zen master who was stopped by a traffic cop, but it does capture a part of my philosophy of education. (As one of my colleagues used to point out, there is more than one way to lay out a one-way sign!)
My co-author is Penn mathematician Robin Pemantle. Robin and I met in the 1970’s when he was in eighth grade and I tutored him in “math enrichment”. When we reconnected some years ago, we realized we had many points of agreement and a few disagreements about how math should be taught. He suggested we write a book together. As we worked on this project and talked, we reached consensus on most issues. We ended up with two books. One of those, titled Beyond the Math Wars is still in progress — it will address curriculum and policy (what to teach). This one focuses on pedagogy (how to teach). It is being published by Routledge Eye on Education.
Other publishers had turned us down, usually with comments to the effect that we had a great proposal that they could not take on for one reason or another, and with encouragement to seek another publisher. One publisher actually seemed interested, until they realized what the book actually was. They explained that what we should have written was a book with One Big Idea, and addressed the idea from different points of view in each chapter. They were right: we do not propose one single big idea! Instead, we acknowledge the complexity of teaching, and discuss just about every aspect of the job: managing group work; conceptual, manipulative, and electronic tools; leading discussions; reaching the full range of students; planning lessons, units, and courses; assessment; and so on. No single idea covers all those bases!
The book is based on our own teaching experience, and on the many ideas we learned from others during our decades in the classroom. We also incorporated feedback from a dozen math educators who read an earlier version of the book. As the title indicates, we are eclectic, and realize that to do this job effectively requires teachers to flexibly combine many ideas and techniques. It is just not true that any one approach guarantees success. Students are different, classes are different, teachers are different, schools are different: nothing works for every situation. In fact, it is often necessary to embrace practices that seem to be opposites, and navigate between them. Our philosophical framework: sophisticated leadership from the teacher can help students to engage intellectually — such engagement is a prerequisite for lasting understanding.
We share many specific suggestions towards this goal. But we are not so deluded as to think our suggestions are the be-all and end-all. Thus, we end each chapter with questions for math departments and preservice courses (or for teaching buddies) to ponder and discuss.
I hope you’ll find the book useful! It will be available for pre-order on August 20, 2024. They say it will ship “after September 10”.
— Henri
PS: Here are comments about the book from two math educators:
“What a wonderfully affirming and informative addition the library of every teacher of secondary mathematics! There Is No One Way to Teach Math attends to all the right topics as it practically illuminates the importance of discussion, collaboration, variety, tools, and bridging the unhelpful either-ors with common-sense balance.”
—Steve Leinwand, American Institutes for Research, USA
“There Is No One Way to Teach Math is humane, validating, and wise. It reads like a conversation with the master teacher down the hall: grounded, realistic, and refreshingly honest. I look forward to assigning this nutrient-rich book as required reading in my course for in-service and pre-service teachers.”
—Amanda Cangelosi, Utah State University, USA