Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics / Liping Ma

Introduction -- Introducing being a primary teacher -- Moving from trainee to NQT -- Applying for your first job and final school placement -- Applying for a job and the interview -- Getting ready for final placement -- Managing relationships -- Thorough preparation -- Knowing the children and pupil progress -- The transition phase -- The transition from training to your first job as a primary school teacher -- Building upon and developing new relationships -- Getting to know your future class -- The classroom as an empty box. Where do I start? -- Planning -- The first year of teaching -- Building relationships and community in the classroom -- Preparation and the planning for the progress of children -- Language and learning -- Building professional relationships -- Looking after yourself.

Studies of teachers in the U.S. often document insufficient subject matter knowledge in mathematics. Yet, these studies give few examples of the knowledge teachers need to support teaching, particularly the kind of teaching demanded by reforms in mathematics education. Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics describes the nature and development of the knowledge that elementary teachers need to become accomplished mathematics teachers, and suggests why such knowledge seems more common in China than in the United States, despite the fact that Chinese teachers have less formal education than their U.S. counterparts