This past September was a special one for XtraMath, as we had the opportunity to attend both the NCSM and, more importantly, participate in our first NCTM Annual Conference in Chicago.

At the NCSM, we attended several insightful sessions led by experts in the field, including a standout presentation by one of the foremost voices in math fluency, Jennifer M. Bay-Williams. During her session, she emphasized that “every student can become automatic with all basic facts and adeptly use reasoning strategies.” She also addressed the major barriers to math fact fluency in areas such as strategy instruction, learning progressions, meaningful practice, and effective assessments. She closed with a powerful message: “Students who understand why and how math works (conceptual understanding) alongside knowing when, why, and how to apply mathematical procedures to solve problems (procedural fluency) are able to solve problems more efficiently, flexibly, and accurately—setting them up for immediate and long-term success.”

At the NCTM, we were thrilled to meet so many teachers who are already familiar with and use XtraMath. We’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who shared their experiences with us and provided valuable feedback on how we can improve. We also connected with many teachers who were new to XtraMath and excited to discover a tool specifically designed to help students build their basic math fact fluency. To all of you who visited our booth and took part in the XtraSpin Wheel, thank you for taking the time to engage with us!

Alongside meeting teachers, part of our research team attended several sessions on fluency and other related topics. These experiences are critical for us to stay on top of the latest trends in math fluency, assess what’s available in the market, and, most importantly, understand what teachers are seeking in a fluency program.

While we attended many fascinating sessions, I’d like to highlight two exceptional speakers:

• July Dixon- Multiplication Fact Fluency: A School-Wide Solution: She presented a session on how students can achieve a deep understanding of multiplication that enables them to develop fluency beyond simple recall. Her presentation featured the six strategies that make up the Fact Tactics™ Fluency Program, designed to move beyond drill-and-kill instruction. These tactics help students make sense of multiplication while developing automaticity and procedural fluency. The Six Fluency Tactics are: The Grounding Tactic, The Linking Tactic, The Strategic Repetition Tactic, The Review Tactic, The Assessment Tactic, and The Extension Tactic.
• Jamie Garner - Math Fluency: More Than Just Memorization: She shared key strategies to help students develop math fluency and presented various approaches for assessing fluency. Jamie approached fluency through three key pillars: purposeful instruction (starting with concrete, then moving to pictorial, and finally to abstract representations), meaningful practice, and balanced assessment. One of her main suggestions in the area of assessment was practical journaling, with a focus on key areas of fluency: appropriate strategy selection, flexibility, efficiency, and accuracy.

We’re incredibly proud to be part of this math fluency community and to have participated in such impactful discussions. These insights will undoubtedly guide us as we continue enhancing XtraMath and adding new features to help students build stronger math fluency.

Thank you for being a part of our journey!

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Best regards,

Julieta Zalazar

Product Designer at XtraMath

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