Necessary Conditions

Math instruction in middle and high school is often something of a grab bag, with schools jumping from curriculum to curriculum, lacking a guiding vision or continuity between years. No wonder so many students conclude, “I’m not a math person.”

Geoff Krall thinks that’s a problem, and he’s devoted his career to fixing it. Necessary Conditions posits for the first time a coherent approach to secondary math pedagogy. Krall identifies three essential elements that will open the door to math for all of your students: academic safety, quality tasks, and effective facilitation.

The book discusses each of the three “necessary conditions” in depth, giving concrete examples and describing the interplay among them. Krall’s guidance equips teachers to:

• design classroom experiences that increase engagement and build all students’ identities as mathematicians;
• create dynamic, high-quality lessons that include meaningful, efficient assessment; and
• implement structures, routines, and facilitation that result in high-quality learning.

With Krall’s guidance, you can help every student come to recognize that they are indeed a “math person.”