Developing Numerical Fluency: Making Numbers, Facts, and Computation Meaningful

"This is a must-read book for any teachers of math."

―Jo Boaler, Professor of Mathematics Education at Stanford University and author of Mathematical Mindsets

 

Numerical fluency is about understanding

Numerical fluency is about understanding, not memorization. It comes over time as students engage in active thinking and doing, not endless worksheets and timed tests.

Classroom instruction and materials, however, often don’t feel aligned with these realities.

In Developing Numerical Fluency, Patsy Kanter and Steven Leinwand take a fresh look at a commonly-asked question: “How do I teach number facts so my students know them fluently?” They apply their decades of experience teaching mathematics to rethinking effective fluency instruction.

Classroom-tested ideas you can use right away

Each chapter introduces ideas, techniques, and strategies that contribute to meaningful fluency for all students. You’ll find:

• pivotal understandings that illuminate what contributes to real numerical fluency
• six instructional processes that support lasting fluency development
• classroom structures and activities for building fluency in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
• suggestions for creating a school-wide culture of numerical fluency.

Patsy and Steve remind us that, “Students do not develop numerical fluency by memorizing and regurgitating rules.” But many of us learned mathematics in exactly this way, making shifting our instruction challenging. Developing Numerical Fluency provides just the right support, offering big ideas for rethinking instruction paired with classroom-tested activities you can use right away.

Steve Leinwand is Principal Research Analyst at American Institutes for Research in Arlington, Virginia and the author of Accessible Mathematics and Sensible Mathematics, and coauthor of Developing Numerical Fluency. Steve served as Mathematics Supervisor in the Connecticut Department of Education for 22 years and is a former president of the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics. In 2021, he was awarded the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' Lifetime Achievement Award.

Patsy Kanter is an author, teacher, and international math consultant. She worked as the Lower School Math Coordinator and Assistant Principal at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, Louisiana, for 13 years. Patsy is the co-author of Every Day Counts: Calendar Math and a consulting author for Math in Focus.

Follow her on Twitter: @patsykanter