A Better Way to Fact Fluency

Score another point for the team against plain ole memorizing multiplication facts. Number sense is where it is at!  Thanks to Jo Boaler at Stanford for another powerful paper on Fluency Without Fear. I can't tell you how many new kids to Mathnasium stare at our ceiling tiles searching for the products of their random times table drill homework.  Parents are almost more fearful of the timed tests than the kids are! Students come to us without strategies and rely solely on trying to withdraw the fact from the recesses of their mind.  Rather, we teach them to use their number sense.  When they have these structures to build their math fact database, the anxiety and fear of timed tests decreases dramatically.

Take 7x6 for my example for upper elementary friends who are still mastering their facts.  If I know 7x5 is 35 (since my 5s are easy!), then 7x6 is just one more 7. 35+7 = 42. Done. I didn't even need my ceiling tiles!  This strategy, along with decomposing numbers, where we distribute a harder fact (like 7s) into easier facts. Using the 7x6 example, I know I can bust up the 7 into a 5 and a 2. Therefore I can take (5x6) and (2x6) and combine the results. 30+12 = 42. Still 42 no matter how you slice it! Again, number sense to the rescue!

For our older students, the problem becomes the numbers extend past 12x12. Middle schoolers often are faced with 17s and 19s, numbers beyond their experience set, so decomposing numbers down to their prime factors helps with reducing fractions, finding least common multiples and greatest common factors. Having full mastery of your multiplication facts will have a dramatic impact on algebra readiness and upper level courses.

High schoolers have even higher expectations of them and need this kind of stuff to be easy so they can conserve brain power for the problem solving.

Jo Boaler is an authority in the math community. I've taken a few online courses with her through Stanford and her perspective is right on with my thinking, which of course aligns with Mathnasium, the Mathnasium Method, and has been wildly successful with Mathnasium's Numerical Fluency program with our youngest learners.  Building number sense impacts the student for the rest of their life and makes the always progressing subject of math an easier subject to understand.

Source:   http://youcubed.org/teachers/2014/fluency-without-fear/ 

Recent Math Research on Languages Makes News!

The FOX station is Orlando followed up on the recent research concerning language and its impact on young students and their ability to build number sense.

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/clip/10641033/new-math-languages

Is Your Child "On Board" with Improving in Math?

One of my favorite quotes is the famous Henry Ford one, "Whether you think you can, or think you can't - you're right!" It's all about attitude. A recent study defended that it is possible to change your success level in math by changing your attitude. Students who continue to think they can't do it, will likely prevent future academic advances in the subject.  

While we certainly have a balanced mix of kids who struggle with math with the kids who visit Mathnasium of 4S Ranch for math enrichment, we see progress every day. Struggling students who are "on board" with the reality of their math situation, know it isn't going to fix itself overnight. There is an investment of time and practice, and possibly even some remedial lessons to build that foundation.  Once those parts become easier, the next level is easier. Slowly but surely, progress is made, grades go up, confidence is built, and more!  If you have a good math base, the lessons in school become easier to follow, you can structure questions for your teacher in such a way that you learn more concretely (instead of "I don't get it." try, "I see where I had to do ______, but what I don't understand is why I then do ___.")

Two tips to get your child "on board:"

• Get them to believe that the work will pay off once the investment is made. Kids who don't believe they can won't bother trying.
• What is their motivation?  If it solely is for better grades, that is great, but statistically speaking greater increases come from kids who are interested in the subject. At Mathnasium we say "Kids don't hate math, they hate being confused and intimidated by math. With understanding comes passion. And with passion comes growth - a treasure is unlocked."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/being-good-at-math-is-not-about-natural-ability-2013-11#ixzz3EisyIWCd

Image Retrieved 9/29/14:  http://www.lorensworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/128000814379780740_tqmONAO5_c.jpg

How English Impacts Math

I found this study to be very interesting.  Stereotypically, math success associated with certain nationalities, especially with Chines and Japanese students, has always been the norm.  As researched here, the language itself could be giving young students the kick start all kids need to make sense of numbers and how they work and build.

It has been recognized that the simple language parameters used by some countries limits confusion or misconceptions caused by a number's name.  What exactly does "eleven" mean?  Isn't it really just a ten and one more?  Some languages use that to set the base with the English translation simply "ten-one." It even puts the ten first (as it would be in place value) before the number in the ones place.

Much of common core, and certainly the proprietary Mathnasium curriculum, translates numbers from fifty-five to 5 tens and 5 ones so students can regroup easier, multiply easier, and more. It's called decomposing a number and it makes harder numbers and complicated processes less hard.

The biggest "take home message" I read in this is that early numerical fluency sets any kid up for success, especially as the math gets more complex.

To see the article, please visit: http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-best-language-for-math-1410304008#printMode

Teachers are Always Students

One of the things I love most about being involved in education is that you never stop being a student yourself.  Our focus at Mathnasium of 4S Ranch is always on what we can do as instructors to make math make sense to our students.

Last week I had the privilege of spending the day with Larry Martinek, the creator and Chief Educational Officer of Mathnasium.  He shared great strategies in working with Common Core and providing that extra something that makes kids feel successful every visit!

Many of his comments tied back to early numerical fluency and the roadblock it presents to further math success. This summer Mathnsium launched a program exclusive to Numerical Fluency and making those numbers come more automatically by using a strategy that slowly becomes effortless.
We also discussed the importance of students being placed in a math class appropriate to their abilities upon middle school - algebra readiness is what it is called in the education world. While we cannot make specific recommendations, much of our data collected through our diagnostic testing is sound evidence if a student is on the right path based on their skill set and if additional progress is necessary to improve classroom grades and understanding.

Larry hasn't let the substantial growth of the Mathnasium brand break his focus on why we do what we do.  Every ounce of his being is dedicated to the curriculum that he and his team create for our students. It was a great day for inspiration!

Time Tested Curriculum! Improved again!

Katie Couric does a great job of breaking down Common Core. In her video for Yahoo! she addresses the goals/objectives of its existence, and how while the standards are national, the implementation is local. With this comes the growing pangs of trying and testing lessons that will drive the rigor while limiting confusion.  As a former math curriculum writer myself, we spent summers rewriting quality lessons so that teachers could more easily and clearly deliver them to students.  Often we would abandon a lesson because it was counter productive to the cause (too cumbersome, too wordy, not enough hands on).

http://news.yahoo.com/video/now-common-core-012638311.html

What I love most about Mathnasium is that our curriculum is sound.  With thirty years of experience in developing and refining our curriculum, it has become timeless.  While we support Common Core wholeheartedly, we realize sound math is sound math. You can't learn B before A, if H isn't making sense then lets revisit G. Mathnasium hasn't rested on its already successful laurels. Our track record of success is outstanding, and yet this summer a revised curriculum launched to make math instruction more meaningful to our students!

I feel so lucky!

Critical Thinking Trumps Speed Drills

As an elementary teacher I despised speed drills when it came to multiplication (or any) math facts. Sure, you need to learn them, some are harder than others but ultimately we do all get there. The anxiety these bring students and their parents is apparent and the message "I am bad at math" rises from the experience. While enduring this reality of school, do not lose focus on the vital critical thinking skills associated with math:

The U.S. does not need fast procedure executors anymore. We need people who are confident with mathematics, who can develop mathematical models and predictions, and who can justify, reason, communicate, and problem solve. We need a broad and diverse range of people who are powerful mathematical thinkers and who have not been held back by stereotypical thinking and teaching.

Encourage your students to Show What They Know. Have them communicate mathematically by:

• Using math vocabulary accurately (The shape is congruent, rather than it is the same.)
• Prove reasonableness (2.2 x 4.1 = ?  Well, I know 2 x 4 = 8, therefore my answer should be higher than 8 since 2.2 is slightly more than 2 and 4.1 is slightly more than 4. Anywhere between 8-10 would be reasonable.)
• Justifying their answer: Half of ____ = 3.5.  The rule of half is to equal parts, so if one part is 3.5 then the other has to be 3.5. 3.5 and 3.5 make 7 since I combine the 1/2s to make 1 whole and the two 3s to make 6. 1+6=7.

It is or this reason that kids aren't sitting in school doing flash cards in the corner like I did a million years ago.  Fact practice is necessary but typically takes place outside of school so problem solving is the focus with the teacher. The same goes with us at Mathnasium of 4S Ranch.  We work on strategies to make these facts come easier, but the heart of our program is making math make sense at setting kids up for further success in higher level courses.

Source:  http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/11/the-stereotypes-that-distort-how-americans-teach-and-learn-math/281303/2/
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