What do you think about a math book with only examples ?

[lazyeightbooks]

I have been teaching math for about 4 years. Students in my algebra class have informed me that the textbooks do not have enough examples and lack detail. I am currently working on an example book just for ALGEBRA. The idea is to have a book where different type of problems are solved. I do plan on marketing this book for teachers, students as well home-schoolers. This book will provide students with detailed examples at different degrees of difficulty.

I realize there are some books out there such as Schaum's outlines, but they leave out some important examples and are sometimes not detailed enough.

It should not be mistaken for a textbook, but rather an example book to be used along with the required textbook.

I would like to hear from some of you and what you think. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thank you.

[jsfowler]

I think this would be a good idea. I do not teach math and out of the content areas math would be the last subject I would want to teach. However, this year I was forced to teach one math class a day for two weeks - our team's math teacher took another position in the middle of the year. We didn't want to fool with a sub so we divided his homeroom into the three other homerooms and everyone taught math first period. I seriously had a hard time following the textbook (I only had a student addition to go by) some days and I commented several times about the lack of examples. IF there were examples, they were extremely easy and I had no idea how to do the really hard ones toward the end. Our principal used to be a math teacher and I would spend at least 20 minutes a day in his office during my planning learning how to do the next days lesson. :o

[greenfiremajick]

I think it sounds awesome. I remember when I was first learning algebra, I REALLY wanted to see more examples so that I could understand it. The written examples/directions never helped me much. They always seemed to go from one step, to eight steps later, immediately.
No matter how hard I tried, it seemed there was always an area or step that I was supposed to know, that I didn't.




I have been teaching math for about 4 years. Students in my algebra class have informed me that the textbooks do not have enough examples and lack detail. I am currently working on an example book just for ALGEBRA. The idea is to have a book where different type of problems are solved. I do plan on marketing this book for teachers, students as well home-schoolers. This book will provide students with detailed examples at different degrees of difficulty.

I realize there are some books out there such as Schaum's outlines, but they leave out some important examples and are sometimes not detailed enough.

It should not be mistaken for a textbook, but rather an example book to be used along with the required textbook.

I would like to hear from some of you and what you think. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thank you.

[Aziz]

I think that is a great idea, greenfiremajick. I always had the same problem as jsfowler. The examples always showed the smooth problems, but once we got to the problems with a few wrinkles in them, half the class was stuck again.

jsfowler, there was no one else in your building that felt more comfortable teaching math? And the math teacher couldn't finish the academic year?

Our school has a policy about what subjects certain teachers can teach based on training and experience. As a student, I never liked having a teacher that new just as much as s/he needed to, because I always asked questions above and beyond the curriculum. My teacher would then look at me as if I were from Planet Mars. Even in cases where it was just needing to have someone explain a problem a different way from the textbook, it was nice to have a teacher who understood the material thoroughly enough so that s/he could re-frame it for better understanding. We have this policy so that students don't run into that situation.

-Aziz

[wtrafton]

I think that something like that would be a handy guide for students to refer to as well as teachers. Interested parents could even benefit. I know I would have bought one when my daughter was struggling through Algebra. It had been too long since I had used Algebra and even sitting with the teacher for a while didn't help me because I wasn't using it everyday.

Great Idea, I hope you do it.