Semester 1

Number Talks:

Number Talks are activities designed to stimulate mathematical thinking and provide opportunities for teachers to observe how students think. It is also designed to build community within a classroom as students are able to share and relate with one another on a given task.

The first example is also known as a "Dot Talk" for obvious reasons. The 8th grade students are briefly shown a series of dots and are asked to count them. The next step is to describe to me exactly HOW they saw the dots. The results are shown below:

This is the pattern of dots shown to the students:

This is how some of the students saw the dots:

A second Number Talk was given to another 8th grade math class. This time, they were asked to calculate the product of 12 and 15 without using pencil or paper (and no calculators). The idea behind this task, is two-fold. The first is to observe how many different ways they are able to come to an answer, and the second is for them to take note of the different ways their classmates came up with the solution. The second part is more important than the first as it encourages engagement and interaction with a task that only "seems" difficult to do at the start. Hearing students express their solutions demonstrates their knowledge and understanding of how to manipulate numbers into more manageable parts. Playing with numbers through Number Talks is a great way to stimulate growth and build confidence. Here is what some of the students came up with:

Technology Resources Used this Semester:

Edpuzzle is a tool that lets you create interactive video lessons and distribute the lessons right from Google Classroom! It is a great way to engage students and keep them learning throughout an otherwise boring video lesson. Click the logo to see a quick lesson that I created for the 8th grade math classes this semester.

Peardeck is an extension that is used in conjunction with Google Slides to make interactive presentations. Turn any presentation into an activity for students to reinforce their learning, and for teachers to gauge their level of understanding. Students simply login using the teacher-provided link and they can view the presentation either at their own pace, or along with the teacher (the teacher can set the pace in the Settings).

Desmos is a free online resource for mathematics with teaching tools and activities that can work directly with Google's Classroom. Teachers can create their own lessons, or choose from hundreds of online lessons created by like-minded teachers. Teachers can make robust lessons with self-checking elements for students who like to work at their own pace. Teachers can also set the pacing to keep the class together - it is the best mathematics online teaching and learning tool out there.

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