Number Talk

Kaluhi Kaʻapana
ITE 325
Planning Sheet
Planning My Number Talk Problem

● 15 x 12
○ Strategies: standard algorithm, Double and half (30 x 6), array, 3(12 x 5)
○ I was worried that this problem would be too hard for them, as they are not used to doing
mental math
● 15 x 8
○ Strategies: standard algorithm, (5 x 8) + (5 x 8) + (5 x 8), (2 x 15) + (2 x 15) + (2 x 15) + (2 x
15), Double and half (30 x 4), Array
○ I planned to start with this problem, then if time permitted and the students did well I may
present 15 x 12
Student
Responses:
Problem 1

● All the students got the same

answer
● Most of them did standard
algorithm
● 2 students broke up the 15 into
5 and 10
● 1 students broke up 15 into 12
and 3
Problem 2

● Many of them did the standard

algorithm
● I think seeing two double digits
were overwhelming
● One students broke the 15 up
again into 12 and 3
● I showed them the array and my
hope is for some of them to
begin using the strategies I
teach them
Talk Moves

● Revoicing
○ As they explained, I wrote and said, “so you did it like this?”
○ Sometimes it wasn’t correct, so they would rephrase
● Reasoning
○ A student tried something no one else thought of (breaking 15 into 12 and 3), I asked “why
does this work?”
○ The students were able to make connections in their math on why these strategies worked
● Waiting
○ I waited for all the students to get an answer since we were in a small group
○ It encouraged everyone to try out the problem, even if it looked intimidating
Student Response

● Thrown-off
○ I could see they aren’t used to mental math
● Excited
○ Once they saw that everyone got the same answer, they were excited to tell me how they got
the answer
○ They wanted to do more problems
● Overwhelmed
○ When they saw the double digits multiplication problem
○ They thought they needed to be fast, but once they realized I was giving them time, they
were calmer
● Calm (my MT observed)
○ Using the thumbs up kept them from getting wild
I was surprised about...

● How quickly the students got the answers

● How excited they were to do math
● They wanted to do more problems
● Some strategies I didn’t think of
“In-the-moment” adjustments

● Doing a second problem with them

○ I was not really prepared to do the second problem
○ I could see that the numbers overwhelmed them but they all tried
○ I did not have enough room on the board to leave the previous problem
What went well?

● No one felt discouraged, but everyone did the problem

● I got different levels of students to respond
● They were engaged and calm
● They were interested in the math
What I would do differently

● Create a paper of strategies that I taught them for them to refer to

● Leave both problems on the board
● Encourage them to try a different strategy from the standard algorithm
Mahalo!