Name ___Alison Lord_________________

Mathematics Textbook Rubric

Textbook ____Go Math! Houghton Mifflin Harcourt_______________

Rate the following indicators as follows: 3 meets criteria 2 partially meets criteria
Indicators
Aligns with Common Core
Domains/Standards for the grade
Addresses one or more of the Standards
for Mathematical Practice
Lesson uses an appropriate balance of
conceptual and procedural understanding
Lesson encourages communication of
ideas and solutions through discussions,
written reflections and responses, etc
Gives teacher suggestions for a variety of
pedagogical strategies, such as openended questioning, practice, direct
instruction, discussion, and cooperative
learning.
Supports the acquisition of math
language
Provides teachers with a variety of
questioning techniques
Suggests how teachers can adapt
materials for students with differing
levels of achievement and learning rates.
Suggests how teachers can assess
students understanding of lesson
concepts
Provides suggestions on using childrens,
hands-on materials, literature,
technology, links to other disciplines, etc.

Rating
3
3
3
2

Grade level ____6________

1 absent/vague 0 - does NOT meet criteria

Comments
CC.6.NS.B.3 - Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using
the standard algorithm for each operation.
#1: make sense of problems and persevere in solving them
#6: attend to precision
Lesson emphasizes discussing the type of problem (conceptual understanding) in
addition to the procedures for solving it (procedural understanding).
Discussions are included, but there is a considerable lack of written
reflection/response.

There is a lack of open-ended questioning and cooperative learning opportunities

highlighted. The lesson does provide direct instruction, discussion and practice.

There are math talk pointers throughout.

There is not much variety in the types of questions presented.

There are sections on Language Support, Enrichment, RTI Tier 1 instruction, and RTI
Tier 2 instruction.

Only allows for assessment through guided and independent practice book
problems/discussion. No other suggestions or options are provided.

One or two technology links, but no hands-on, literature, or other discipline

information.

Adapted from MA Mathematics Curriculum Framework

Summary:
In the lesson I chose, students are learning how to divide with decimals (in both the
dividend and divisor). Most of these problems result in double digit division. The lesson
begins with the teacher accessing background knowledge through having students practice
some decimal place value work (multiplication by 10, 100, 1000, etc.). From there, the
teacher should engage the students in a discussion about the patterns seen in dividends
and divisors, ideally leading the students to ask why it is necessary to change both divisor
and dividend and why it must be multiplied by 10.
The lesson moves on from there through additional practice of division of decimals,
engaging students with group practice. Moving into some individual practice, there are
several problems for students to work on in small groups. The book does indicate that if
two of those problems are missed, the teacher should engage those students in Tier 2
instruction. Finally the lesson ends with several problems of individual practice.
Overall I think this lesson was well written. Per the above rubric, most of the
indicators were present. I found the book to lack mainly in the variety and presence of
questions for teachers to ask. There were some included but no information on differing
questioning techniques to engage students in the lesson.
I also found the assessment section seriously lacking. While there were problems
included for students to work on, there was no information on ways to vary the delivery of
these in ways that truly assess what students are learning. There was also a considerable
lack of suggestions for hands-on or literature based activities. In addition it was surprising
that there were not many ideas of integration for other subjects especially since the
concept is one that could easily transfer to science or even social studies.