What is Procedural Fluency in Math?

Numerical Fluency is an essential part of math success. Kids who do not know their facts often struggle with more complex skills.  Once mastered, Procedural Fluency is next in line!  "I know my facts, but now what??? How do I use them? Which one do I use when?" Often, this shows up late in elementary school or middle school, when the breadth of problem solving strategies have been covered and it is up to the student to begin applying independently.

Can your student give themselves the kickstart necessary to attack a problem? Do they sit there staring at the page not knowing where to start? These could be signs that they lack the confidence to get themselves going.

Procedural Fluency is a student's ability to understand the material with such depth that they can apply the ideal problem solving method correctly and efficiently. I call this building your mathematical toolbox. There are often times that two or three tactics will work, but which is the most efficient? Which leaves less room for error (why turn a two step problem into a five step problem and risk a mistake or two along the way?) and saves time when the clock is ticking.

So how is Procedural Fluency developed? Practice. Exposure. Experience. Modeling by professionals. Through formal lessons in the classroom or with a quality math tutor, students build an arsenal of skills and tactics to move through a problem. They draw on their numeric fluency skills, they choose a strategy that makes sense, and they assess for reasonableness. A student secure in their procedural fluency can often find a second way to solve the same problem to justify their answer.

It is never too late to build a math toolbox! If your child has the numeric skills, but struggles with Procedural Fluency, give Mathnasium of 4S Ranch a call! Our math tutors will provide the instruction and support to help them grow!

To learn more, visit the NCTM website:  http://www.nctm.org/about/content.aspx?id=42833
Clip Art retreived on 8/30/14 from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9nG-Pu03lq-aLheYIj9keGjuqFc5CUomLhzrryn37GH2kymlHw8DJ2bBnrryZ1xnWgcLrum7N7UjI1EouVv6wSnWpmh-e-KwxH-lwnzXU6ecuIZH2guOaRUS3SSDzof4qmvVsy4_5-vXn/s1600/Math-problems-dyscalculia2.jpg

Reasonableness

With all the years I have been in education, whether from the side of a homework helping mother of two, the teacher for 3rd, 5th and Special Ed kids, elementary administrator, and as a math curriculum writer I don't think a day has gone by where the phrase, "Is this reasonable?" hasn't left my mouth.

So many times kids get so wrapped up in what it is they are doing that they don't stand back and ask themselves, "Is my answer reasonable?" Sure you have an answer, but go back and make sure it makes sense. This year, make this the new standard in your student's math life. The Common Core math standards require kids to explain their process and problem solving.

My favorite lesson in third grade was what I called "The Magic Brownie Pan." Students were given a bunch of information about a girl who baked two tray of brownies with a a dozen brownies in each. Four friends came over. Half had two brownies and half had three.  How many brownies were left?  There is a lot of data in the question. First of all, you need to know what "dozen" and "half" mean. You need to figure out how many brownies there are in the first place before you figure out how many are left.  Inevitably a few kids will give me an answer greater than 24 brownies, maybe they added all the brownies to all the kids to how much each kid ate.  I would joke about it not being a Magic Brownie Pan that miraculously bakes more brownies as kids are eating them. Those brownies are gone! Forever! There will be less than what was originally there, but how many exactly and how do we know we are right? What is our strategy?

Encourage your student to always check for reasonableness. The earlier they condition themselves for this type of scrutiny of their work, the greater the payoff down the road! For elementary math students, this will be key in becoming algebra-ready (also called pre-algebra) and success in higher level high school math courses.

If you need the support of math specialists, come to Mathnasium of 4S Ranch where our customized learning plans teach your student math skills, kids can get homework help, and math confidence is built.

How Students Become Better at the Math Facts

I love Stanford and the constant stream of ideas and studies that comes from math research.  The latest of which addresses the #1 concern of the week as parents enter Mathnasium of 4S Ranch. How can I stop my child from finger counting?  The Mathnasium Method definitely has tools to transition off fingers to automaticity through a series of number sense lessons and good ole practice, and we have seen over a dozen of our summer session friends invest their vacation knocking this habit specifically!

So why is fact fluency, fact recall, numerical fluency, fact automaticity (all synonyms for the action of effortless recall of math facts) so important?

"If your brain doesn’t have to work as hard on simple math, it has more working memory free to process the teacher’s brand-new lesson on more complex math."

There you go!  There is so much more math in a young student's life, they have to know their facts so they can focus on problem solving. Mathnasium's Numerical Fluency Curriculum launched in July and the immediate results have been fantastic. Things are clicking for kids as never before.  Older kids, like 4th and 5th graders, who have struggled with basic adding and subtracting skills are making my favorite sound, "OOOhhhhh!"  Connections are made!  For our younger friends on the brink of having multiplication and division added to their math mix, they are gaining steam and confidence while building their automaticity!

How well kids make that shift to memory-based problem-solving is known to predict their ultimate math achievement. Those who fall behind “are impairing or slowing down their math learning later on,” Mann Koepke said. 

Check out the article here:  http://www.pressherald.com/2014/08/18/peek-into-brain-tests-how-kids-learn-math/

National Honesty Day is Today

I didn't even know such a day existed such a day existed, but today is National Honesty Day. Apparently it was created to balance out the fact that the month is kicked off by April Fools Day.  So a few "honest truths" about math. I learned these after taking a Stanford course last summer:

• There is no such thing as a "math person" or a "non-math person." 
• Mindsets concerning math can be changed, but it takes time and effort, so those that consider themselves "non-math people" need to know they have the power to makes things different
• Mistakes in math are learning opportunities - sticking to it and powering through a tough concept may come with bumps and bruises, but ultimately makes for a better mathematician
• Boys are not better at math than girls. Girls are just as capable.

So if math is "hard" for your student, or if you are fearful of projecting your "non-math person" identity onto your child, know it can be turned around.  Will it necessarily be easy - No. I have to be honest about that. The reality is, a student's future is highly dependent upon the opportunities they seize earlier in life, so working hard and "getting it" in elementary school leads to opportunities in middle school. Solid middle school performances opens the doors to advanced math and AP classes in high school which translate into getting into a four-year college, or even a select university, in the major of your choice. 

Parents Helping with Homework Could Hurt Them

My morning routine always includes a news update from the Today Show. I will admit it is not exactly the hardest hitting news each day, but I love their balance between human interest and global segments. This morning they discussed The Broken Compass, a new book trending in American about how providing too much help, or helping too often, can actually negatively impact your student.

The book analyzed surveys of American families taken by the US Department of Education over the past thirty years. The ideas of parents "taking the reigns" or "taking over" during homework time, thus not allowing the child to do most of the work, dominates and is considered to be counterproductive to the cause.  The goal would be for the kids to do as much work as possible, with you as a support system, so they can independently complete tests and quizzes successfully when in class (and away from the overhelping parent).

The Today Show joked about their own personal experiences in helping their own elementary kids with homework, but who can honestly say they have not uttered these same words at the end of a long day: "Let's get this over with" or the frustration you feel when something so clear to you isn't clear to your child,  "It's right in front of you! The answer is right there!"

At Mathnasium of 4S Ranch, we provide the support system at homework time. Students will work with an instructor on a sampling of problems, and once they show understanding are released to complete some work independently. This builds confidence in the concept. Instructors then return to check over work and reteach if necessary.  When kids walk out our doors they know they were the ones doing the work, not us, and their success in the classroom improves.

Math Help: Don't Become a Math Mummy

At this time of year it is easy to go into panic mode and pull out all the stops for getting your child "over the line" when it comes to their math class.  I have parents who come in daily looking for a quick fix when it comes to getting math tutoring or math homework help.  Please be careful in finding that silver bullet to make all the math problems go away; it pretty much doesn't exist.  If math has been following a downward trend line the past couple of years, it is necessary to go bad and rebuild. If it took months and years for this problem to escalate, it won't take a month to get back on track.

Chances are if they are struggling there is a reason. Putting a bandaid on a concept works for the short term, but too many bandages holding together a math student is heading for trouble. The student will start to look like this dude - scared, confused, panicked, and unprepared.

First of all, address the problem before it gets out of hand.  If you are already at crisis point, make the necessary investment to gain those concepts currently missing.  Sometimes you have to take those two steps back to move one step forward.  Quick fixes don't address the deep down issues preventing success. Setting reasonable expectations and having patience to let your child learn for mastery, not in a race-like situation, is key for long term success.

Don't Let the Doors Close on Your Student

I was watching the Today Show yesterday morning and they had a segment on the impact standardized testing has on children. A kindergarten teacher quit her job and sent her resignation letter, complete with her rationale to a national newspaper, stating kids aren't learning through enjoyment but because teachers teach to the test.

While watching the piece, Michelle Rhee, the founder and CEO of StudentsFirst.org was debating the value of standardized testing with Matt Lauer. She stated that in an international study the US is currently ranked 26th out out 30-some nations in math.  That to me is alarming, but more so when you think about how these young kids will have to compete on a global level, not just their campus peers or other states.

It may be hard to imagine your young one applying to college, and even more unbelievable to think of them having a career! As Ms. Rhee mentioned, employers are deeply concerning about the pool of candidates in the coming years and their preparedness to take on the jobs requiring math skills. For these reasons there is accountability so we know kids are learning what they need to measure up to the rest of the world.

Here's to improving that terrible statistic!  Through hard work, patience, and asking good questions, students can turn their math status around. Other studies have proven that there is no such thing as a "math person." Anyone can be a math person.

The message today is for students to take ownership of their math abilities and work toward being the best mathematician they can be so all doors are open to them - whether they have a standardized test to pass or not.  Then, as they evolve as individuals and learners, they have the option of deciding which one you want to walk through without regret of having short changed themselves.