1. 3-5 Number Talk Webinar Anne Gallagher – Director of Mathematics
Katy Absten – K-12 Math Specialist
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

2. Guest Teacher/Coach Ann Sipe Heather Henry Kevin Gilman
Instructional Coach Grades 3rd – 5th
Prosser Heights Elementary/Prosser School District
Heather Henry
5th Grade Teacher
Maya Angelou Elementary/Pasco School District
Kevin Gilman

3. Email Newsletter Best way to stay informed via OSPI emails
Go to website to sign up
Encourage your colleagues
to do the same
Anne
OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
9/22/2018

4. Number Talks First time hearing about them Aware of them
Have tried them
Tried them and stopped
Do them regularly
Anne

5. What Are Number Talks? Instructional Routine
3-4 times a week for about 10 – 15 min – consistency is important
Opportunity for students to mentally reason with numbers
Students share their solutions and strategies and their solutions are recorded and honored
Allows students to consider different perspectives on how a problem can be solved
Opportunity for students to reflect on and compare their solutions with other students’ solutions.
Anne
Number talks are only one of a variety of instructional routines.

6. Why Number Talks: a high-leverage teaching strategy/routine to transform the culture of the classroom
FROM:
TO:
Teacher centered
Student-centered – students have ideas worth listening to
Teacher explaining the solution to an answer
Students sharing their reasoning & strategies
Focusing on the right answer
Honoring how students arrive at a solution – even if it is wrong
Math anxiety/low confidence
Confidence in math ability
One method of solving a problem – often using the standard algorithm
Students are flexible in their thinking & reasoning
Low student participation
High student engagement & productive struggle
Anne

7. Kevin Gilman Prosser School District
5th grade teacher

8. Tips for Getting Started with Number Talks
I started using Number Talks about 6 years ago. I was introduced to the Number Talk format through a local grant.
Number Talks book/CD by Sherry Perish- I worked through the book the first couple of years using the number strings that were provided.
I used several of the sentence stems in the book to get the students communicating. p. 21
I started by using finger signals and creating/posting strategy posters.
Jump right in. Don’t be afraid of making a mistake.
Use what you have/Turn them into number talks
Bridges- Number Strings
Engage New York/Eureka- Fluency Components
My students started with desks and now we meet on a carpet.

9. Change over Time
Over the years I have seen dramatic improvements with my students computational fluency
(multiplication/division)
Confidence levels increase
Classroom Discourse increases on other problems/students are more willing to share
Reasoning about problems
Starts Climate
Don’t focus or stress about the students who don’t share
Many students have math injuries and it will take time for them to be willing to express their strategies
Our school has a large ELL/Hispanic Population
There are other ways to create accountability
Small-group number talks with/without whiteboards
Favorite “No” Teacher Channel
Now I have a Carpet- Turn and Talk
Improvements:
Less is more- Short amount of time, less problems, more intentional, stay with smaller problems longer
Having students “try on” a strategy
Turn and Talk
Looking for patterns and connections
Many Concepts can be addressed during a Math Chat or Number Talk

10. Examples of Number Talk Problems
I have branched out into other concepts during number talks
Rounding
Order of Operations
Equalities (Ann will speak about this later)
Powers of 10
Equivalent Forms of Decimal Numbers
Three and eight hundred twenty-three thousandths
3 ones + 8/10 + 2/ /1000
Estimation: Fractions
1/3 + 3/5
Students will estimate each fraction to 0, ½ or a whole
Some reason through the fraction- complex fractions
Some find equivalent fractions (2/6)
Find the sum
Greater than/Less than statement

11. Successes and Challenges
Student talk- Turn/Talk strategy has been very successful for my ELL students
Helps students talk through a problem and justify/defend reasoning
Greater engagement and participation
Promotes discourse and the use of the sentence stems
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Misconceptions
Identify students who might need a one-on-one or group # talk
Helps me decide on the next problem
Ruth Parker- MEC
Three Year Grant
Tremendous influence
Expand Number Talks- Can You See, Try This On, I saw a student who did ………
Offering Courses throughout the state at local ESDs

12. Questions & Answers
Type in your questions for Kevin into the question box

13. Heather Henry – Pasco School District
5th Grade teacher

14. Tips for Getting Started with Number Talks
Plan your first number talks with your grade level team!
This allows you to get different perspectives because students will think about problems differently than you do.
Opportunity to practice before giving the number talk with students.
More heads to help decide what problems to use and where to go if the problems you choose are too hard or too easy.
Have everyone on your team give the same number talk.
Come together and reflect on how things went.
Repeat the process until you feel comfortable!

15. Tips for Getting Started with Number Talks
I keep a notebook with my number talk plans. I add to it every year. My goal is to have a big binder to pull from. (the template is from Ruth Parker’s Number Talk Institute and book Making Number Talks Matter.)

16. Choosing Problems (5th grade)
Don’t move too fast!
Student might be able to solve hard problems with paper and pencil but don’t have many mental strategies yet.
Build fluency with whole numbers first!
Students can use the same strategies when doing operations with decimals and fractions as they do with whole numbers.
Don’t be afraid!
It might not be perfect, but it will get easier!
Try it! You won’t regret using Number Talks in your classroom!

17. Number Talk Examples
When doing subtraction, I love choosing problems like Students can use many strategies other than the standard algorithm. Often these strategies are quicker and more efficient than the standard algorithm.

18. Number Talk Examples Green- adding up
Red- Rounding to a friendly number and adjusting
Blue- Standard algorithm
(to help me see if the student understood what he was doing, I avoided stacking the numbers on top of each other and had the student explain each step)

19. Successes and Challenges
Successes in implementing Number Talks –
Supportive administration (district and building level)
Staff willing to learn and implement
Number talks have been building math focus for the past two years (PLC’s and PD)
School-wide book study on Making Number Talks Matter by Ruth Parker
Teachers who already do Number Talks let other teachers observe
Number Talk planning during PLC meetings
Building and district professional developments sessions on Number Talks
Challenges in implementing Number Talks –
Teachers are unsure what problems to choose
Knowing where to go next

20. How Student’s Have Changed Over Time
When I first started using number talks, I saw very few strategies. Students struggled doing problems mentally because they were so used to using algorithms and paper/pencil. I often had only a few students who would volunteer.
Now students can think about problems in many different (yet efficient) ways! Students are very eager to participate and I rarely have students unwilling to share their thinking.

21. Questions & Answers
Type in your questions for Heather into the question box

22. Ann Sipe – Instructional Coach Prosser School District
Prosser Heights Elementary, Prosser School District
Instructional Coach(grades 3-5)
( me for resources)

23. Tips for Getting Started with Number Talks
Advice for Teachers
Commit to it as regular routine.
Give yourself permission to be a learner – words with friends
Poker face right answer the signpost to understanding the math
Take the time to be successful
Build a positive classroom culture …Use the Dots Cathy Humphries HS work
Chart what the students are saying, not what you think they should be saying or turning it into what you wish they were saying
Don’t push too far, too fast
Don’t force students to more “efficient” strategies until they trust the one they are using

24. Supporting Number Talks as a Coach
Get teachers to a MEC Number Talk Institute
Our district, building and special programs have supported us in this work and have a line item for continuing the work
Modeling within the classroom.
Start with the dot talks, turn over to teacher
Come back and model numbers, turn over to the teacher
Continue to check in
Work within the PLC
Discussions of successes and challenges. Anticipated strategies/misconceptions with new topics
Book study – Making Number Talks Matter

25. Supporting Number Talks as a Coach
Flexibility within the Format
Sometimes a true number talk – ala Ruth Parker and Cathy Humphreys
Sometimes a SDUSD routine – solved a building problem around equalities 8+4 = __ + 5
Sometimes more of a number string/talk as seen in Sherry Parrish’s work and the Bridges curriculum– useful for long term subs and those who are getting started and not confident in the work
But know which you are doing - and what is your goal

26. Impact for Students
Students gaining confidence in their thinking, not always looking to the teacher for validation
Development of number sense – better able to judge if their answer is in the ballpark
Builds the safety of the classroom for exploring misconceptions
Value for the student who knows they are wrong but not sure why
Exposure to a variety of strategies
Living the Standards for Mathematical Practices

27. The foundation for student learning is built using the CCSS for Mathematical Practices. It is important that we as educators provide students with opportunities to experience mathematics in a way that builds understanding. The 8 standards have been grouped into the following categories:
1 and 6 Over arching Habits of Mind of a productive mathematical thinker, Reasoning and Explaining, Modeling and using tools and seeing structure and generalizing.

28. You can focus them on what they are doing – precise language/ modeling with the mathematics/ seeing the structure within a number string…
Touch on what do you think we did today to make the Practices explicit

29. Support for Discourse -
I am defending the answer_______.
I do not understand _________?
Can you say more about______?
I think you are saying________.
I agree with_____because_______?
I disagree with_______because______?
I saw it differently, I saw _________.
I think are ideas are the same, because____.
I think our ideas are different, because ____.
K Set B

30. Impact for Teachers Formative assessment – who is where
Differentiation – Either up or down, can pull small groups, offer different numbers
Ability to revisit concepts when the curriculum has moved on
Gets many voices heard
Misconceptions addressed within the discussion
Provides practice for students in choosing which strategy works for them

31. Successes and Challenges – for me as a coach
Kept the Number talk training from being just another “great workshop, oh yeah, meant to do something with it, but….”
Challenges
Not always successful in getting others to see the need for continuity
Time - the pressure for all the other things that need to be done
Time – for mastering the work…not a “one and done”
Teachers that push the work too hard, too fast or feel the need to link directly to content being taught
Teachers that turn a number talk into a lesson (article by Cathy Richardson)
Can create more failure for students rather than confident mathematical thinkers if not true to the model

32. Successes and Challenges – As a Coach
Kept the Number talk training from being just another “great workshop, oh yeah, meant to do something with it, but….”
Challenges
Time
Misuse

33. Administrators Support - Providing $$ and time in PLCs
The response has been positive, for the most part.
Discussion of the work and seeing it in classrooms, learning walks, etc
Administrators understand that not only does this support math but also the language goals for our second language learners.
Provides lots of evidence for a Distinguished rating within the CEL evaluation system

34. Questions & Answers
Type in your questions for Ann into the question box

35. We Are Learners Along With the Students-
Ask purposeful questions that shift the focus from the teacher to the student.
Bring student solutions back to a PLC –particularly if you are unsure about a student’s strategy.
Build your own content knowledge by making sense of the many new strategies your students will come up with!
Anne
Ask purposeful questions that shift the focus from the teacher to the student – practice as a teacher to refrain from “telling” – Learning curve for both students and teacher – develop your role as a teacher in a number talk
Bring student solutions back to a PLC – particularly if you are unsure about a student’s strategy – wonderful opportunity for us to learn more about mathematics
Students come up with many different ways – some of which will make no sense to you. Building your own content knowledge.

36. Dive Deeper Number Talks by Grade Band
Teachers from the specific grade bands will share their experiences with number talks, tips for getting started, changes they have seen in their students and their teaching, and an opportunity for Q & A Sign up now! – Visit OSPI’s Math Webpage
Number Talks for Grades K – 2   February 11th    3:45 – 4:45
Number Talks for Grades 3 – 5   February 16th    3:45 – 4:45
Number Talks for Grades 6 – 8   March 7th          3:45 – 4:45
Number Talks for High School     March 9th          :45 – 4:45
Katy

37. Connect with others! Washington Teachers Collaborating About Number Talks
Join teachers from across Washington in creating statewide energy and support for Number Talks in K-12 mathematics classrooms
Number Talk Resources
Grade Level Discussion Boards
Katy

38. Number Talks Workshops around Washington
MEC Number Talk 2-day Institutes
February 29 – March 1, Battleground
April 19-20, Tumwater
May 16-17, Renton
June 22-23, 2016 Lacey
August 3-4, 2016 Anacortes
August 23-23, 2016 Lacey
Contact your ESD Regional Math Coordinators for additional opportunities and personalized support in your area.

39. Resources
You Cubed You Cubed - Number Talks
Making Number Talks Matter (book) – Ruth Parker and Cathy Humphreys
Intentional Talk – Elham Kazemi and Allison Hintz
Teaching Channel – PLC Leadership & Number Talks
Katy

40. Additional Questions

41. Thank you! Anne Gallagher– anne.gallagher@k12.wa.us
Katy Absten –
Ann Sipe-
Heather Henry-
Kevin Gilman -
You will find additional videos and resources that are included in the power point that is posted on our website