1. Number Talks Leadership Academy
Debbie Olson
Mathematics Education Collaborative

2. Foundational practice in MEC workshops and courses since 1998
MEC Math Science Partnership project,
Making Number Talks Matter by Parker and Humphreys, 2015
OSPI Mathematically Productive Instructional Routine
Why Number Talks?

3. Number Talk

4. 63-28
Number Talk

5. Accessible, Implementable, and Powerful

6. Preparing a Next Generation of Mathematics Teacher Leaders for Washington State
MSP Grant from U.S. Department of Education and Washington OSPI
Three summers and two school years with classroom teachers
Content focus: Ratio and Proportional Reasoning, Rational Numbers, Expressions and Equations
Participants prepared to lead 4-day workshops
MEC MSP

7. Classroom Practice Results
This graph is on your flyer.

8. Student Achievement Results
This graph is also on your flyer.

9. Can similar impact be made using Number Talks as the primary vehicle for transforming classroom practice?

10. Transforming Mathematics Classrooms Through Number Talks: A Leadership Academy
Funded by College Spark Washington and participating individuals, schools, and districts
Our Project
Refer them to the flyer in their folders.

11. Building on the MSP project
Significant summer experience
Virtual school year support - webinars
Delayed Leadership Model
Three-year commitment
Teachers as learners – content and practice
Building on the MSP project

12. Learning from the MSP project
Participants in teams, as much as is possible
Summer opportunities for shared experience with collaborating teachers
Community Math Nights
Learning from the MSP project

13. Year 1 Goals Becoming more reflective learners
Digging deeply into the practice of enacting Number Talks as teachers
Deepening our own mathematical understanding
Examining our teaching practices
Year 1 Goals
Intentionally no goal of providing PD – delayed leadership model
Challenge for those whose job it is to provide PD

14. School Year Expectations
Enact Number Talks at least three (preferably consecutive) times per week in the same class
Keep a Number Talks Learning Journal
Attend 4 webinars
Attend a Community Math Night (if possible)
School Year Expectations

15. Year 1 Challenges Staying connected
Various levels of experience with Number Talks
Various job roles
K-20 participant range
Implementing leads to tough conversations about teaching
Year 1 Challenges

16. Year 1 Strengths Staying connected
Various levels of experience with Number Talks
Various job roles
K-20 participant range
Implementing leads to tough conversations about teaching
Year 1 Strengths

17. Year 1 Strengths Staying connected
Various levels of experience with Number Talks
Various job roles
K-20 participant range
Implementing leads to REAL conversations about teaching
Year 1 Strengths

18. A Quick History of Number Talks
Developed by Ruth Parker and Kathy Richardson in early 1990s (Mathematical Power by Ruth Parker, 1993)
Engage students in meaningful mathematical discourse and sense- making
Transform the culture of the classroom to one of inquiry and curiosity
A Quick History of Number Talks

19. A Quick History of Number Talks
Cathy Humphreys has extended and studied their use at the secondary level
Ruth and Cathy will publish a second book next year
Kathy Richardson (Math Perspectives) will soon publish a book with early elementary focus
A Quick History of Number Talks

20. A Quick History of Number Talks
Number Talks have since been used by and written about by many people, in many ways.
A Quick History of Number Talks

21. What is/isn’t a Number Talk
For example
Content (arithmetic vs. Algebra)
Time (5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes...)
Level of teacher involvement
How students respond (various hand signals)
Over-defining vs. under-defining
If a distinction is important, why?
What is/isn’t a Number Talk
Over-defining: less likely to be used
Under-defining: Lose meaning and power, just one more routine
Project gives opportunity to explore this question based on experiences of teachers implementing NTs with ongoing support and network.

22. The exciting stuff...

23. Number Talks Lead To Important Conversations
Efficient vs. “easy” (and the subjectivity of both)
Flexibility/sense-making vs. learning new methods
Encouragement vs. praise
Divergent vs. convergent thinking
Maintaining genuine curiosity vs. enacting a routine
Teaching vs. telling
Noticing vs. wondering vs. fixing
Nudging vs. shoving
Listening to ideas vs. listening for ideas
How these experiences influence the rest of the classroom
Number Talks Lead To Important Conversations

24. Years 2 and 3 academies and support sessions
...and more.
Years 2 and 3 academies and support sessions

25. And some feedback from you: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MVLBFPX
Facebook:
MEC Math
Twitter:
@mecmath
@debdoesmath
Questions?
And some feedback from you: