Reworking the Workshop: Math and Science Reform in the Primary Grades

Daniel Heuser knows that lasting educational reform comes not from the reports of policymakers, but from advances in research and the experiences of classroom teachers searching for a better way to educate their students. In Reworking the Workshop he offers a plan to dramatically improve how your students construct math and science understanding.

Underpinning his book are three important ideas based on research and classroom experience:

• some ways of teaching help students understand math and science better
• good math and science teaching resembles good literacy teaching
• math and science workshops combine reform teaching techniques with a familiar, successful lesson format.

Just like in literacy workshops, students engage in hands-on learning, choice, reflection, inquiry, and problem-solving as they deepen their understanding of math and science. Teachers widen their understanding of great teaching, too, as they see the powerful synergies between successful literacy education and successful math and science education at work in their classrooms.

Practical, research-based, and forward-thinking, Reworking the Workshop takes teachers through every step of reforming their classroom: from planning curriculum, teaching minilessons, managing hands-on activities, and encouraging reflection, to assessing student learning. It even offers advice on how to line up support for reform efforts by communicating with administrators and parents.