Finger Dancing

My daughter, Kate, demonstrates 9 x 2

The other day one of my students rattled off a mnemonic device which enabled him to remember the number of days in specific months.  That segued into a trick I’ve long used to remember my multiplication facts. Demonstrating using my two hands, I illustrated how to read the nine’s tables by depressing various fingers.  Surprised by its simplicity, several senior high school boys unabashedly placed both hands in front of them, fingers going up and down testing the system.  It was a rather sweet cross curricular moment – visual art meets finger dancing math. I can just picture our stellar math teacher  groaning at the sight of seniors using their appendages to count.   I suppose it’s only fair if he decides to fire off some thanksgiving hand turkeys to make us even.