Mad Minutes with Mr. Sacco

"Mad Minutes" were one of my favourite childhood activities—60 seconds to solve as many multiplication problems as possible. Modern pedagogy may not embrace the importance of fast, mental math, but I view speed in mathematics as a natural side effect of being well educated. In my session, I will show you how to integrate Mad Minutes and mental arithmetic into middle and high school classes. I'll share strategies that reinforce operations on polynomials, which are common in the Math 10C curriculum. I'll also include techniques for scaffolding Mad Minutes to make them less stressful and more accessible to all students.