Deep Thoughts About Math

September 2020

Did you dislike math in school?

Do you feel like your child inherited your lack of math skills?

Do you feel like you or your child is just not a math person?

I have great news for you! The truth is that there is no such thing as NOT being a math person. We are all math people! (Every single one of us.)

Have you ever seen the face a baby makes when they taste a lemon? I bet you can picture it in you mind right now, the eyes pinched closed, the nose scrunched and the lip pucker. Maybe you even chuckled a little to yourself thinking about it. And now you are probably wondering what in world a baby, a lemon, and math have in common. Hang in there with me.

Sarah Van Der Werf is an amazing math coach from Missouri. She taught me the connection between babies, lemons and math and now I will share it with you.

The point is that almost every baby makes the same facial expression when they taste lemon. It wasn’t taught. They didn’t all learn “the lemon face” in the hospital nursery. It is something that we are born to do. And, math is no different. We are all born to understand and use math ideas. And we are all capable of doing so.

Once we embrace this idea and believe it about ourselves, our children and everyone we meet, we can begin to accept that we deserve no less than amazing opportunities to grow in our math abilities. We will begin to challenge ourselves or others when we hear or think, “I am NOT a math person.” We will begin to encourage ourselves and others when we hear or think, “Math isn’t my thing.” We will begin to change the words, "I can't do math" to the words, "I was born to do this."

You are born to do math, to think mathematically, to solve problems, to find patterns, and to see numerical relationships. We all are.

October 2020

What is this thing called "fact fluency?"

I know that you probably hear these words thrown around and sometimes people may just shorten the word to "facts."

"She needs to know her facts."

"Work with her on fact fluency."

"How come they don't just memorize their facts?"

The truth of the matter is that "fact fluency" has several different parts to it.

Yes, it is true that fact fluency does involve speed. But that is not all it is! Fact fluency also involves accuracy and (dunt-tuh-tah!) flexibility. It's true- there are 3 parts to this thing called "fact fluency." When we think of these three parts it can make a little more sense why it is so difficult to achieve and why it can take so long.

Let's think about other things that require fluency.

Learning to be fluent in a new language is one example. In order to be fluent you must be able to quickly understand the spoken and written words, organize your thoughts in that new language and express those thoughts with... you guessed it...

1. speed

2. accuracy

3. flexibility (not necessarily in that order.)

Let's think about another idea. Cooking (by the way I am not a fluent chef) is another example. To be fluent in the kitchen it takes more than just speed. It takes more than just accuracy. It takes more than just flexibility. You need to be able to create edible (yep... I have failed with this many times) combinations of foods and spices. To do this you need be flexible (needs a little more salt), accurate (1 Tb sugar is way different that salt and a TB is very different than a tp when it comes to red pepper) and you also need to be fairly quick (no one wants to wait for dinner at midnight).

On the outside it can look like someone who is fluent has memorized everything. But when we think about the examples of fluent speaking and cooking, you can see that it is indeed so much more than that. Imagine dedicating yourself to being a fluent chef or to learn to be fluent in a new language. What are some of the things you would need to achieve this?

Time?

Patience?

Grace?

Understanding?

Perseverance?

To the young minds that are learning "their facts", math is a new language. One that will use every single day for the rest of their lives and fluency is an important part of it. They will need speed, accuracy and flexibility. To help them get there, let's give them time, patience, grace, and understanding. Let's encourage and praise the perseverance they show and will need.