(12/2006) - My grandmother, Edith Ladd Armstrong, always thought I would write the great American novel. You know grandmothers — they think we can move mountains and wrestle with angels. And it was my grandmother, after all, who introduced me to the likes of Atticus Finch, Jake Barnes, and Ethan Frome. We shared a love of literature and an obsession with language for as long as I can remember. But a funny thing happened on the way to writing that novel. I landed up in a classroom teaching language arts — and math — and loving the math more that I could have ever imagined!

I will quickly admit to having nothing on Harper Lee or Ernest Hemingway, but I do know something about writing. I know that it involves precise word choice, attention to detail, and a strong voice. I know that it involves coherent sentence structure, attention to subject and verb agreement, and proper punctuation. I know it involves creating, crafting, editing, editing, and more editing. You see, I did write that book my grandmother dreamed that I would write — but instead of a twenty-first century piece of fiction, I wrote a book about asking good questions in math class.

Three years ago, I was asked by the editor of Math Solutions Publications if I would consider writing a book about developing open-ended questions to be asked in math class. This was to be a sequel, of sorts, to an already published book entitled Good Questions for Math Teaching: Why Ask Them and What to Ask (K-6) by Peter Sullivan and Pat Lilburn (2002). Toby wanted this particular book to be applicable to grades five through eight. I could manage the questions for grades five and six, but my experience teaching grades seven and eight was limited. I enlisted the services of a dear friend and fellow Math Solutions consultant, Nancy Canavan Anderson, as co-author. Thus was the conception of Good Questions for Math Teaching: Why Ask Them and What to Ask (Grades 5-8) (Schuster and Anderson, 2005).

As teachers are apt to do, I found that planning backwards met the needs of this particular project. Nancy and I began to develop our questions before we crafted the definition of “good” questions that we were to use for the introductory chapter of our book. We knew good questions when we came across them, created them, and heard them answered by children in our classes. We knew that good questions:

• help students make sense of the mathematics.

• are open-ended, whether in answer or approach. There may be multiple answers or multiple approaches.

• empower students to unravel their misconceptions.

• not only require the application of facts and procedures, but also encourage students to make connections and generalizations.

• are accessible to all students in their language and offer an entry point for all students.

• lead students to wonder more about a topic and to perhaps construct new questions themselves as they investigate this newly-found interest. (Schuster and Anderson, p.3)

Eighteen months were spent writing questions, trying them out on our students and having our reader evaluate the wording and mathematics of each batch. Questions were written to address the following mathematical topics:

• Number Relationships

• Multiplication and Proportional Reasoning

• Fractions, Decimals, and Percents

• Geometry

• Algebraic Thinking

• Data Analysis and Probability

• Measurement

My favorite set of questions is found in the Number Relationship chapter. Ask my fifth graders—they know how much I love teaching our Prime Time unit! I even used a few of my questions from the book on our unit exam this year! Try this one:

The weather is reported every 18 minutes on WFAC and every 12 minutes on WTOR. Both stations broadcast the weather at 1:30. When is the next time the stations will broadcast the weather at the same time? (Schuster and Anderson, p.20)

Each question is followed by a teacher note written to help direct and support instruction.

Writing a book is just plain hard work. The thinking, writing, and editing process became a way of life for me for those eighteen months. I hate to think how many dinners my family went without as I wrestled with a problematic question as dinner time rolled around!

I am now in the process of working through my second book, Fourth Grade Math: A Month-by-Month Guide, also for Math Solutions Publications. What I have found interesting and surprising, as well as a little frustrating, is that the writing of this book is quite different from that of my questions book. But that is another story for another day and another article! I will say, however, that my work with good questions has greatly influenced my work in the classroom as well as the writing of this new manuscript.

My fourth and fifth graders at Fay are scattered throughout these two books. Their first names, ideas, solutions, and questions appear frequently. My work at Fay has offered such fertile ground, if you will allow me the gardening metaphor. I hope my students have grown as much as I have in this process!

Lainie Schuster's book (with Nancy Anderson) is: Good Questions for Math Teaching: Why Ask Them and What to Ask. Grades 5-8. Sausolito, CA: Math Solutions Publications 2005.