Amplifying Basic Facts: Manaiakalani Toolkit...

This afternoon I took part in the Amplifying Basic Facts toolkit lead by Donna Yates and I'm really glad I did because I came away with a lot of great ideas to implement in my maths program. 

The focus:

• How to teach multiplication /division basic facts.
• How to amplify and turbocharge the teaching of the basic facts.

Donna shared the message from Jo Boaler's  that more often than not we create 'maths anxiety' in our learners by expecting them to be able to recall the basic facts in 4 seconds without taking time to ensure we have helped them grow their understanding and number sense. To lessen the chance of this happening we need to introduce strategies using equipment to allow for visual connections to be made, provide opportunities for our learners to practice these strategies using contexts they can connect to, before we ask them to be able to recall from memory. 

Strategy

'Basic facts should not just be rote-learnt in isolation from understanding. There is little point knowing what 6 + 7 or 7 × 8 is, if the student has no concept of addition or of multiplication. Teaching needs the joint foci on developing understanding as well as memory.'

Practice

'Doing a wide variety of work that aims to build and enhance strategies, helps reinforce procedures, and understanding of mathematics.  Practising strategies also reinforces and continues the process of memorisation.'

Memorise

'This should only come after the students understand the operation, and have some strategies for performing it.'

Donna shared a wide variety of online programs and virtual manipulatives to help us provide the multimodal learning opportunities needed to help a wider audience make their connections. I really enjoyed the hands on opportunity to explore these.

                        

Image from Donna's presentation 

My Takeaways:

• Recall comes when good foundations are laid and understanding grows
• Make use of at NUMPA Book 6
• Continue to grow understanding of the literacy of maths
• Incorporate virtual manipulatives into my program
• Use images to 'find the maths'
• Basic facts should not be rote learned in isolation from understanding
• Continue to use the real worlds of our students with written maths questions to allow connections to be made in context and with understanding.
• Make a virtual maths manipulatives slide so these can be accessed any time by any one from a known place

Resource Links:

• Array Display - a site that shows what times tables look like when drawn as an array. It has the function to change the order of the factors and show what the array would look like as a division.
• Donna's Multiplication site - so many great links here
• Maths Eyes - finding the maths in images 

Connecting to maths language...

'Imagine a teacher running her hands across her desk as she tells her students, “A plane is a perfectly flat surface.” The students listen quietly, but one of them is thinking, “I thought a plane was something that flies.' Rubenstein and Thompson, 'Understanding and Supporting Children’s Mathematical Vocabulary Development' (p107, 2002). 

This is the type challenge many of my learners face everyday. Donna Yates shared this article with me after visiting LS2, along with a great idea to help us strengthen our connections to the maths language we encounter when reading and trying to make sense of written maths questions. Rather than reinventing the wheel I used this exact example to show my learners how confusing maths language can be, and gave us an authentic purpose the challenge that followed.

I find that when my learners collaborate and have the opportunity to talk about their tasks they gain a clearer understanding, so this is how we approached this challenge. There was a lot of negotiation and rich discussion as the vocabulary was manipulated into the corresponding columns. Donna is happy for me to share the link to this task which can be found here.

Going forward I will be tapping into the TESOL strategy of repetition without boring. If I want my learners to forge strong connections with the vocabulary they need to be successful in maths I know I need to provide multiple opportunities for these students to hear the words, see the words and use the words in context.