Excellent resource with easy to implement examples and ideas. This is a great resource for both the homeschool parent/teacher and the classroom of a typical school. While some ideas may present issues in some communities, the vast majority of ideas and methods can be utilized. I found the book both informative and helpful. ( )

The lessons were easy to use and understand. I had difficulty as you do with an new material used in the classroom for the first time. Once my students got the new format it was a great success. ( )

We've been told for decades that some people learn better by reading, and some by listening but learning by DOING seems to have the greatest potential to stick with the student. Hence more and more project based teaching instead of recitation and quizzes. But this leads to a new challenge, some student DO better building a power-point, and some by making a physical model. There's the old cliche of the intelligent but shy student forced to recite his research from memory and getting a failing grade.
Project or task based learning allows students with different strengths to learn using their own optimum method, and prove their gained knowledge using their own optimum presentation method. And the obvious way for a teacher to present all the various acceptable task/presentation options is to give students a menu. Easy, right?
Well yes, if by menu you mean a list like the table of contents in text book! This volume gives insight into creating interesting visual menus that convey the choices quickly and easily and also add a little fun to the mix! In that this is the stated goal of the book, it does it well. This is a great introduction with many fine examples that could be used for Math students (6-8) and the ideas can be modified slightly for other levels, or even for other subjects as the author has done in the many other books in this series.
I think it would be more useful, especially to beginners, to have some template pages that could be easily filled in and reproduced. But once you've used the ideas presented here you'll want to make your own anyway so this is a minor complaint.
As I've said in reviews of similar books, the project/task method can be difficult to implement in large classes and classes where home resources are lacking. If a teacher has to track 100 students doing an eclectic mix of projects while making sure they are all on-track and have the tools to complete the task, he'she will not have any time left to actually teach! And if the students come from a low income area it's likely they have no PC access at home, no materials for crafts, and possible no library or other out-of-school resources. Making it difficult or impossible for them to complete the assignments. These are problems with the school system and not with this particular book. I just point out that it's a wonderful tool but only in the right setting.
So assuming you have a reasonable sized student body with average or better resources at their disposal, this book will help you give them a better educational experience than might be had otherwise. ( )

I enjoy this kind of book as it gives me ideas to use in the classroom to enhance my teaching. I would recommend other books by this author. ( )

Great addition for any middle school math teacher. I highly appreciate the use of menus in order to cater to student interests, needs, and motivations. This book includes menus focused in numbers & operations, basic algebra, geometry, and finances. There are also guidelines and rubrics ready to be used with some great printables! ( )