Number Talk

(1) Learn more about number talks.

• Review the reading and think about what Number Talks are, why they’re useful, and how to facilitate and plan for them. The Number Talks you may have seen in schools are not necessarily the approach that you are expected to use for this assignment. So it is important to review these readings.
  • Parrish (2014) - Chapter 1 and 2
• Select the appropriate grade level & review the lesson plan and video. As you read the lesson plan and watch the video, think about what you'll need to do in order to facilitate this number talk in your own classroom. How might your students respond? How will you support them to communicate their thinking? If you have any questions or concerns talk to me or your mentor teacher before you facilitate the number talk with the whole class.

(2) Chose one of the videos of number talks below to watch and reflect on.

Remember: The goal for Number Talks is to find out what students understand and how they think, without your assistance. The process of problem solving is what matters, not the answer. If a student has an incorrect answer or is having difficulty explaining their thinking, you should represent what they are explaining and support them to describe their thinking. But do not linger on "correctness." There is no need to show students how to solve a problem.

(3) Reflect

After you watch the number talk, take some time to reflect. This is an informal reflection, but you should prepare a specific point to share with me. These questions might guide your reflection and help you identify what you'd like to share in your brief reflection:

• What did you learn about students' mathematical thinking?
• What did you learn about what students know and can do?
• How did the teacher represent students' strategies? How do the teacher know that the representations were accurate depictions of how the student thought?
• What strategies surprised you?
• Which strategies were difficult to understand?
• What kinds of questions did the teacher ask or discourse moves did the teacher use?
• Which questions/moves worked well? How do you know?
• What missed opportunities did you notice for supporting students to communicate their thinking?

(4) Reflect

Post a BRIEF written reflection on Google Classroom that describes what you learned from this reflection in relation to 1-2 learning goals for the slices of teaching activity.