Making Number Talks Matter

I've just finished reading a great book called Making Number Talks Matter by Cathy Humpreys and Ruth Parker. Number Talks (or Math Talks) might not be new to you, but just in case they are: A number talk is "a short, fifteen-minute daily routine, in which students... mentally solve computation problems and talk about their strategies."

I know that 15 minutes is not actually a short amount of time in a classroom setting, and that for those of us who only see our students for 55 minutes a day, those 15 minutes are precious. But hear me out before you decide this isn't going to be a helpful part of your daily routine.

Raise your hand if you've ever bemoaned your students' lack of mathematical understanding. Raise your hand if you've ever wondered what your students have been doing in math class all those years before they got to you. Raise your hand if you've ever heard "You have to put the bigger number on top when you subtract." Raise your hand if seeing your students use their fingers to do any type of math makes your blood boil while also making you sad. Raise your hand if your students freak out when fractions come onto the scene. Did any of these things make your hand go up? Well then... Let's look at number talks and see if they can help with these things.

The fact that this happens in so many classrooms across the country does not indicate a lack of good mathematics teachers, or a wealth of students who aren't "math people" (not a real thing, by the way), but a problem with how mathematics has been taught. We have been taught that using the procedures and rules correctly and quickly is math, without anyone trying to have that process make sense.

This is where Number Talks come in! Number Talks are all about students and their ways of thinking. Number Talks allow students to tackle a problem mentally, and explore the methods they used in order to solve it. This often leads them to discover certain mathematical properties, and allows them to see the logic and connections between different strategies. They become more willing to persevere when solving complex problems and become more confident when they realize that they have ideas worth listening to.

The previous post, with the dots, is an example of a Number Talk. No matter what grade you teach, using dot cards is a great way to start this routine with your students. There is no arithmetic to scare students off, and all they have to do is describe what they see! Now, I know that this has been a long post, and the book I recommended is also pretty long, so I've created a PowerPoint that works as a companion to the book. I recommend checking out the PowerPoint, and if you feel like it would be helpful, check out the book! It's filled with great transcripts of classroom number talks to give you an idea of what it looks like in action.

Making Number Talks Matter - The Four Basic Operations