Reply To: Lesson 4-2: Automaticity vs. Memorization

[Amy Rensko]

This lesson aligned with my belief that automaticity is more important than memorization of facts. For example, a student doesn’t have 8 x 6 memorized but understands that 8 x 5 = 40 so 8 x 6 is one more group of 8. That student can arrive at 8 x 6 = 48 quickly but does not have it memorized. Understanding multiplication becomes more important than having all of the multiplication tables memorized.

I have taught grades 5 through 8 math in my teaching career. It’s always the students who have developed good number sense and automaticity with numbers that have the most success in these middle school grades. Over the last two years, I’ve taught 5th grade math classes where I incorporate number talks regularly. These number talks improved students understanding of the basic operations.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Amy Rensko.