Quotes:
- "Number sense matures with experience." Thank God!
- "Mental math makes easier the understanding of inverse operations.
- " If students have never been asked to solve problems without calculators and if they have not learned calculator- free strategies, then mental math will never be an option that they choose."
- " Having specific objectives that are clearly known to students is part of building a successful program."
- I really like the idea of "Think Twice Mentally"- an authentic way to integrate writing into math.
- I am also a huge proponent of mental math. I found that doing it as a bell ringer every Monday made a significant difference. Throughout the week students would ask if they were allowed to use the calculators. Just my emphasis on one day a week made them more aware of their dependency.
- Quite a few students took it as a personal challenge to use the calculator less throughout the year.
- Throughout lessons and activities I would say "Does anyone know the answer in their head?" similar to the way they author said "Here's a good chance to use our mental math."
- I like the idea of a two part assessment. How often can I incorporate this?
- Does mental math mean not using a calculator or doing everything in your head?
- I'm a fan of the included example problem sets. I need to think of concepts that I hear adults complain about teenagers not knowing and cover those as well- although I like the problem sets I used last year. I thought they were well thought out and developed nicely over the course of the year.
- Resource: http://www.estimation180.com/blog
