Number Talks in Your Space

Number Talks is an effective component to incorporate in your daily math lesson design. If you are unsure of how to use/what Number Talks is, please book me immediately, and we can go through the resource and figure out how it can work for your learners! There are many copies of the Number Talks resource in the broadcast studio that you can check out.

Here is a checklist you can refer to, to get started with Number Talks in your space.

Here is an example of a K-2 Number Talks:

Here is an example of a 3-5 Number Talks:

Some FAQ about Number Talks:

What does Number Talks look like?

-Students are near each other so they can communicate with each other (central meeting place)

-Students are mentally solving problems

-Students are given thinking time

-Thumbs up show when they are ready

-Teacher is recording students' thinking on the board

What does the Communication in a Number Talk sound like?

-Having to talk out loud about a problem helps students clarify their own thinking

-Allow students to listen to other's strategies and value other's thinking

-Gives the designer the opportunity to hear student's thinking

-Encourage Accountability Talk. Here are some Accountability Talk Posters you can display in your space

Why should a Number Talk be solved mentally?

-When you are solving a problem mentally you must rely on what you know and understand about the numbers instead of memorized procedures

-You must be efficient when computing mentally because you can hold a lot of quantities in your head

-It will give you a picture of who is able to compute mentally and who is struggling

What does the questioning of a Number Talk look like?

-Who would like to share their thinking?

-Who did it another way?

-How many people solved it the same way as Billy?

-Does anyone have any questions for Billy?

-Billy, can you tell us where you got that 5?

-How did you figure that out?

-What was the first thing your eyes saw, or your brain did?

Why should the designer record everyone's strategy?

-Provides a visual to look at and refer back to

-Allows you to keep a record of the problems posed and which students offered specific strategies

-Allows you to record students' thinking in the correct notation

Purposeful Problems

-CHECK OUT the Number Talks resource from the broadcast studio to get purposeful problems

-Start with small numbers so the students can learn to focus on the strategies instead of getting lost in the numbers

-Use a number string (a string of problems that are related to and scaffold each other)

I look forward to learning with you about using Number Talks in your space!