Now What? Next Steps for Implementing Number Talks

So, you’ve heard about Number Talks or maybe your math coach has modeled a Number Talk in your classroom. Now what?

Establish the Routine:                  

• Use hand signals. 
  
•  Record all student solutions without teacher comment.
• Ask students to justify or defend an answer.
•  Provide students with sentence frames to support communication.
• Establish a classroom community that is supportive and helping everyone learn. There is not one best solution or strategy. We all can learn math.

How do I prepare for my next Number Talk?

• Consider the skills within your unit or skills that your students need more support.
•  Create or select one problem or a series of 3-4 problems. Refer to the Number Talks book by Sherry Perrish for a selection of problems. Or refer to the handout “Grades 3 through 5” by Boston Public Schools.
• Prior to the classroom Number Talks, solve each problem using strategies that students will possibly come up with. This prep work is worth the time. Consider using the Planning Guide (from Number Talks Quick Start Guide pages 15-25, Oakland by Unified School District)

Maximizing your Number Talk Experience

• Prior to the Number Talk, make sure you worked out all possible strategies. This will help you decipher students thinking and record the problem using good syntax.
• Start with easier problems. As you introduce the routine or want students to focus on a new strategy, start with problems that have smaller numbers. This will help students focus on the strategy and not get overwhelmed with the higher numbers.
• Connect the Number Talk to the math lesson for that day. This may not always be possible, but can really lead to good conversations and preloading students with strategies for that day’s lessons. 
• After the Number Talk, have students solve a problem, on paper, that is similar to the problem(s) from that day’s Number Talk. This could be an “Exit Ticket” for your Number Talk. 
• After the Number Talks have students use their math journals to answer an extension question.
• Which strategy was most efficient for “the problem”?
•  Pose a potential mistake or misconception and have students write how to fix it.
• Have students write to a friend explaining how to solve a similar problem.
• Scaffold Number Talks during the week to create problem sets that have the same strategy focus, but the numbers get increasingly bigger.