Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics exudes enthusiasm for students, how they think, and how those thoughts coalesce into powerful thinking classrooms. It’s also deeply practical, describing how everything from the teacher’s questions to the arrangement of the furniture can add to your students’ learning.

The first was the realization that at no point in the three days of observation had I seen Jane’s students do any thinking—at least not the kind of thinking that we know students need to do to continue to be successful in mathematics in future grades. This is not to say that there was no activity. There was lots of activity—the students were busy from the beginning of class to the end. They were taking notes, answering questions, filling in worksheets, and starting on their homework. They were busy. They just weren’t thinking.