Number Talks - Week 1

This week we introduced Number Talks for the first time. It was exciting to see many students with their hands up ready to share their thoughts. Even more exciting, was seeing students that do not often share, raising their hands. 

I was eager to give many students the opportunity to speak, which slowed down my number talk, so I noticed many students started to lose focus until I switched to the next card. Since I was doing the Number Talk in French and students were learning to say “Je vois…” before answering, this also slowed down the process. I debated if it would be better in a small group but ultimately decided I need to limit how many students get to share before moving onto the next card.

This week, we were focusing on learning how to do Number Talks and not on documentation but on my second Number Talk I was eager to start documenting. Since answers were given out so quickly, it would be impossible to document them myself, so l asked my ECE to write down their responses. I showed them 4 different cards with 3 dots arranged in different ways. We noticed many interesting ideas and an interest in subtraction. Here are their responses:

Je vois...

• 2 dots
• Take away 1, gets 3, take away is 2
• Take 3 away, 2, bring back 3 it’s this.
• Teacher: “Interesting, I like how you used the words take away”.
• 1, then becomes 2,
  Teacher: “Interesting , you see 1 and then 2.”  I jumped in early here since she continued to speak after me saying: “then becomes 3.”
  Conclusion: She wasn't actually seeing two groups, she was counting.
•  Then becomes 3.
• This one is at the bottom half of it. (In reference to 3 dots in a line on the bottom of a square card whereas the other was in the middle.)
• Take 3 away, no more.
• 3 same line
• A diamond. (In reference to a line of 3 dots on a diagonal. I asked her to come and show me the diamond and she turned the square on an angle.)
• Take one away, will be 2.

Next Steps:

1. Speed up the number talk by limiting the number of students chosen to share.
2. The ECE will use the iPad mini to record the Number Talks in both English and French so we can compare them.
3. Documentation of student thinking through recordings.