Mental Math PD

I attended a 3 day pd session on mental math and developing strategies. I learned basic techniques for k-8 for developing strategies in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Most of the strategies dealt with getting rid of the fingers by grade 3 and up with facts. The facts are the multiple strategies learned so a student can do mental math without a calculator and understand basic skills like place value. In the high school pd we spent time on relationships and relating symbols like your typical math questions into pictures and diagrams which can be represented by language. The real task is to ask the student to find other relationships for the question they just solved or getting the student to represent a symbol with an application outside of the classroom. Most students are just using calculators answering the questions because that is how they are taught and they do not actually understand certain concepts. Some of the concepts that weren't learned or understood in K-8 affect the outcome for high school and these students are at risk. I learned a lot from the presenter and I hope I can remember all these skills when I step up onto the stage and teach.