I was fortunate to have had a role that allowed me to explore ways we can truly support students in numeracy development by exploring what it means to balance our math instruction. The importance lies in allowing students to develop conceptual understanding by seeing how concepts relate in multiple ways but also to ensure that they understand sometimes there is only one right answer and like anything, we get better by practicing with the algorithms we understand not memorize. Understanding the difference between a visual aid and visual strategy and connecting concepts to a strong understanding of place value are two powerful ways to close some gaps in numeracy.
* Warning - I don’t just like math, I adore it!*