Bridges to Classroom Mathematics: A Staff-development Curriculum for Elementary School Teachers

A professional development curriculum that supports teachers who are planning to implement innovative elementary mathematics curricula. The program is designed to emphasize the philosophy, purposes, and approaches of any curriculum aligned with the NCTM Standards.

Bridges Materials for Staff Developers

Bridges includes approximately 60 two-hour sessions that staff developers can combine flexibly to design workshops to meet local needs and resources. The materials consist of three groups of sessions, a handbook, and a videotape.

Staff Developer's Guide: Mathematics for Elementary Teachers sessions are designed for teachers who are using any standards-based curriculum or are preparing to make new curriculum choices.

Staff Developer's Guide: Everyday Mathematics sessions are designed to support teachers who are using the curriculum of the same name developed by the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project.

Staff Developer's Guide: Investigations in Number, Data, and Space® sessions are designed for teachers using the Investigations curriculum developed at TERC. Click here for short descriptions of the Staff Developer's Guide: Investigations in Number, Data, and Space

The Bridges Mathematics Handbook is a collection of essays about mathematical topics that support and enrich participants’ mathematical content knowledge. It is designed to supplement any of the above units, or can be used as a stand-alone reference book.

Using the Bridges Materials to Create Workshops

The Bridges materials are designed to build local school or district-level capacity. They provide complete presentation instructions and a comprehensive set of print materials that can be used successfully by local staff developers. Bridges workshops have been given successfully by presenters from a variety of backgrounds in a variety of situations.

• Schools or districts considering adopting standards-based elementary mathematics curricula can use Bridges materials to develop introductory hands-on workshops to increase staff understanding and appreciation of standards-based pedagogy.
• Bridges workshops can provide training and support to teacher-leaders and administrators, and direct in-service workshops for teachers in districts and schools that have already adopted a standards-based elementary mathematics curriculum.
• Bridges units have been effectively used to introduce pre-service teachers to standards-based elementary mathematics content and pedagogy.

 

Bridges Sampler

Please keep in mind that the Bridges materials, including video components.
Click here to download the Bridges Sampler in Adobe PDF format.

Online Order Information

Now available on CD-ROM

Click here to download a Bridges Order Form in PDF format.