How I Wish I’d Taught Maths

“How I Wish I’d Taught Maths is a rare and wonderful book, one that could only have been written by someone with Craig’s devotion to teaching and willingness to become immersed in the research literature on how people learn. In clear, concrete, and compelling terms, Craig illustrates evidence-based ways to upgrade mathematics instruction, ways that are often unintuitive and/or at odds with prevailing educational practices. It makes us wish that young people the world over might have the good fortune to find themselves in classes that incorporate Craig’s insights. In fact, whereas Craig writes, “I’ll be honest – this book has been created for maths teachers’, we think that Craig’s “lessons learned’ can, with some creativity, enhance any teaching.”

“How I Wish I’d Taught Maths is an extraordinary and important book. Part guide to research, part memoir, part survival handbook, it’s a wonderfully accessible guide to the latest research on teaching mathematics, presented in a disarmingly honest and readable way. I know of no other book that presents as much usable research evidence on the dos and don’ts of mathematics teaching in such a clear and practical way. No matter how long you have been doing it, if you teach mathematics – from primary school to university – this book is for you.”

“How I Wish I’d Taught Maths is an honest and insightful reflection of Craig’s years as a maths teacher. Through experience, podcasting others and reading broadly, Craig carefully considers every assumption he used to make when teaching maths – assumptions we all make or made. In each chapter he forensically analyses a theme from Explicit Instruction to, my favourite, Choice of Examples, expounding his old approach and backing up his new approach with rich examples and scholarly references.

Written in the way he speaks – upbeat, humble and littered with ” flippin’ “ecks’ – Craig brings together so many aspects of maths teaching and so many shared assumptions that there’s something in here for anyone involved in maths education, including teacher trainers, early career teachers and those with many years at the chalkface. Having read How I Wish I’d Taught Maths I’ll now be a considerably stronger practitioner. No doubt this will become the defining book on maths pedagogy for generations of maths teachers.”

“Evidence-fuelled, down-to-earth, and hugely practical. The book we maths teachers have all been waiting for.”

“It’s rare that we change our habits and beliefs once they are established – cognitive bias is strong in us. And that is what makes this book so exceptional. Craig describes not only what he’s learned from a methodical study of cognitive science but how he’s changed over time despite his initial success. There’s a joyful relentlessness to Craig’s study of teaching methods. He starts out telling us he wants to “know every detail’, and what makes the book so exceptional is just that – the way the story of how something he learned about teaching played out in a specific problem or lesson, was refined and improved. It’s an incredibly useful book for maths teachers especially, but really for anyone who teaches and cares about getting it right.”

“Teaching is on the cusp of a new era, bringing it out from the dark ages where “don’t smile before Christmas’ and “because we’ve always done it that way’ is replaced with evidence-backed approaches based on insights from research into cognitive science and psychology. In a world where the highest-impacting teaching approaches are often counter-intuitive, experience alone cannot be relied upon; we need these research-informed insights in order to improve as practitioners.

History will look back on How I Wish I’d Taught Maths as a seminal book leading mainstream teachers into this new world. And who else would you want to narrate us into the unknown than Craig Barton, the leading maths educator in the UK? A role model for excellence in professional development, Craig’s enthusiasm, intellect and critical skills navigate readers through vitally important and complex concepts with ease.

Pulling on contemporary research from hundreds of papers and books, How I Wish I’d Taught Maths concisely summarises all that we know about high-impact teaching and gives specific examples of what it looks like in the classroom. This book helps you realise just how much you didn’t know about teaching, and furthermore, how much we still have to learn as a profession. A must-read for experienced or newly qualified teachers alike. This book will quickly become a classic.”

“This book has the potential to have a huge impact on the way maths is taught. It is so refreshing to see a maths teacher honestly critiquing their own practice and suggesting alternative approaches based on sound research and analysis. Craig’s warm and relatable style of writing is a pleasure to read. His book is brought to life by hilarious anecdotes and humble reflections. Craig summarises the key points of the relevant research succinctly and his advice to teachers is perfectly pitched and instantly transferable to any maths classroom. For the sake of our current and future students, I certainly hope that this book becomes essential reading for maths teachers.”

“This is a really thoughtful and thought-provoking discussion of a series of important and practical questions about the best way to teach.”

“This is one of the most useful books on maths instruction that I have read. Craig’s humility and honesty about his previous reasoning, and responses to received wisdom (and his own biases), invites the reader to examine their own preconceptions and blind spots. The volume of research behind his conclusions – and the down-to-earth summaries of its implications – make it accessible for anyone interested in maths teaching.

His stories ring horribly true, encapsulating predictable errors made early (and late!) in a maths teacher’s career. I wish this book had existed when I trained; I might have avoided making so many mistakes, and for so long!

The conversational style gives it the feel of a discussion with a trusted and inspiring maths mentor or university tutor, making you feel Craig’s expectations of us, as teachers, are as high as those he has for his students!

I’ve made it a “must-read’ for anyone who wants to join our department. In addition to being accessible, it acts as a handy reference for discussions, giving a common language for maths teachers to discuss their practice. It is wonderful to have a go-to resource allowing maths teachers, and those who support them, to examine where their practice can be refined or, in some cases, altered.

As the debate about “teacher standards’ gathers pace, this book is a timely contribution in answer to the question, “What should we expect all teachers, as professionals, to know about the craft of teaching maths to children?’. That said, there is a wealth of information and reflection in here that would be valuable for teachers across subjects and phases. I would not be surprised if this became compulsory reading for a range of PGCE courses and teacher inductions. Craig’s conclusions about how to help pupils learn interrogates the most fundamental aspects of how we think about teaching, regardless of curriculum area.”