Number Talk Moves, Tips & Tricks

Number talks are rooted in communication. Talk moves guide students and teachers to communicate effectively and provide purposeful discussions that enrich student learning.

Posting talk moves in the classroom, along with sentence stems, can help teachers better facilitate number talks and help students learn how to share their thinking in a positive and productive way. Sentence stems are helpful for a variety of students, including our multilingual learners.

1. Wait Time

Wait Time: Providing appropriate wait time after a question has been asked ensures the majority of students have had time to access the problem. Waiting for the quiet thumb up lets students know that they are all expected to be thinking during this time. As well, it reinforces the idea that speed is not important. During discussions, ensuring enough wait time is provided will allow for most students to gather their thoughts.

2. Revoicing

Revoicing: Repeating or summarizing what a student has said to verify, clarify or highlight an idea. Students can learn to rephrase key ideas to improve their own understanding.

3. Repeating

Repeating: Asking students to restate what another student said OR restate important/complex parts of an idea to slow down conversation, allow for more processing time, or promote further thinking on an idea. It provides students with the opportunity to hear the same information in a different way.

4. Reasoning

Reasoning: Once students have had time to consider a classmate's ideas, students can be asked to compare their reasoning. This provides students the time to connect and compare ideas.

5. Adding On

Adding On: Encourage students to build on one another’s thinking. This move can give students the opportunity to connect to other’s thinking and invites more students to participate in the conversation and clarify thinking.

6. Turn and Talk

Turn-and-Talk: After answers are first shared, students can turn-and-talk about which answers are reasonable and why. Teachers circulate to listen to partner talk and use this information to choose thinking to highlight during the whole group discussion. This time allows students to clarify their own ideas and familiarize themselves with each other’s thinking. Students must be taught to use talk moves during turn-and-talk time. This talk move involves all students and is important for those reluctant to share with the whole group.

7. Revise

Revise: Students consider their original thinking and explain how it has changed as they gained new insights.

*Talk Moves come from the book Intentional Talk: How to Structure and Lead Productive Mathematical Discussions by Elham Kazemi and Allison Hintz

Talk Move Posters

Check out these Talk Moves Posters!

Copy and edit to suit your class!

There are also many Talk Moves posters you can find online.

Number Talk Tips and Tricks

As teachers work to refine their Number Talk practice, there are some questions and concerns that arise. We have compiled some best practices and ideas with respect to the questions and concerns we have been asked about.

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