ELED 433 Sarah Burleson

Children and Mathematics 11/09/2017

Number Talk Reflection

For my number talks with my fifth-grade students, I choose the strand of adding
decimals. For this strand, the students added two or three decimals to make whole numbers and
found totals of numbers that were more than and less than a whole. I chose this specific strand
for my students because I have noticed that often, most of the students in the fifth-grade classes
at Cub Run do not use the appropriate language when describing decimals. They like to say
phrases such as "point six seven" instead of describing the number as "sixty-seven hundredths"
so I believed that using a strand of number talk that required the students to discuss decimals
verbally would encourage them to use the appropriate and mathematically-correct language to
describe these numerals. Another reason I chose this specific strand of adding decimals as a topic
for my number talks because I know that the two math classes that I observe during practicum
were working with decimals at the beginning of the semester but have since moved on to work
on the topic of the order of operation and understanding algebraic equations. Because the
students have learned about the mathematical concept of adding decimals, I knew that all the
students in my homeroom had the readiness and the previously acquired ability to complete this
number decimal number talk. I thought that this number talk involving decimals might serve as a
good form of review for the concept of decimals in order to keep the students prepared to solve
equations involving decimals at any time.

I completed my number talks during Immersion Week on Monday, Wednesday, and

Friday morning with the whole group of students in my homeroom classroom, and completed my
fourth and final number talk with a small group of students during math instructional time on
Friday afternoon. The reason that my fourth number talk varied in group size and
implementation was that I had to conform to the schedule of my cooperating teacher, who
already completes number talks three times a week with her students. This number talk also
varied in implementation because my cooperating teacher wanted me to offer an individualized
and scaffold number talk for a few students who seem to especially struggle with the topic of
using appropriate language for decimals and do not participate fully during number talks due to
having to speak in front of the whole class.

For my first number talk on Monday morning, I wanted to remind students what a whole
number was and discuss with them how to make a whole number using decimals. I began by
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having the students add one half and one half. All of the students agreed with the first given
answer of one (1) but many of them thought about how to add these numbers differently. There
was one student who conceptualized this adding of two halves as the adding of money: she
discussed how she knew that adding $0.50 and $0.50 would add to a whole dollar, so therefore
the answer would be one. Another student thought of this equation as the adding of five and five
to make ten, then adding back in the decimal between the one and the zero in order to have 1.0,
which would just be one. However, this student could not explain why they knew where to put
the decimal in the total. Finally, another student explained their answer as the fact that they knew
that two halves added together made a whole. After this first problem, I again posed two
questions where the students added two decimals with numbers only in the tenths place and
asked them to find the answer. The answer was one whole for each problem because I again
wanted the students to critically think about the idea of whole numbers. Students once again
thought about these two problems in terms of money and adding whole numbers then adding
back in the decimal. For the final question of this number talk, I wanted students to think about
what would happen if a number went over a whole. The students all seemed to receive the same
answer and many of them thought about this problem by first making the friendly number of one
whole, then adding the remaining.

For my second number talk on Wednesday morning, I began introducing decimals with
numerals in the hundredths place. I still had the students adding only two decimals together to
find an answer. On the first problem, there were many different strategies used by the students to
find the answer, including thinking of the decimals as money again, making tens by moving
around fives, and estimating to larger numbers, then subtracting to find the true answer. The
second problem, which was suggested by CT, confused a few students because they did not
notice that the four hundredths could not just be added easily to the six tenths to make one
whole. However, when the correct answer was explained, they noticed immediately what they
did incorrectly. On the third problem, the students once again went about solving it by making
either more friendly numbers, such as a half, or addressed one place value at a time when adding
the whole decimal together.

For my third and final whole class number talk on Friday morning, I kept using decimals
with numerals in the tenths and hundredths place but added a third decimal to each problem for
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the students to add together in order to find the answer. This addition of a third decimal seemed
to offer some trouble and confusion for students seen in how much longer it took them to do
these problems than it had taken them in previous number talks. Students solved these difficult
problems by making easier numbers with similar place values and once again addressing one
place value at a time.

For my final number talk, I worked with a small group of students in the afternoon,
lower-level math group. I got the number talk that I had done that morning that was difficult for
my homeroom students and presented the same two problems for these students. Unlike the
students in the first presentation of this number talk, the students in this group just attempted to
add these three decimals straight across, which very much confused them. These students found
a different answer for every person in the group for both problems. When I saw this, I went and
added a zero to the end of one-tenth, and asked the students to see if they could make easier
numbers this way. Once the students saw 0.1 as 0.10 and were reminded of easier numbers, they
had an easier time finding the answers to these two problems.

I communicated with the students in a variety of ways when I was completing my

number talks. One way I constantly communicated with the students during this specific strand
of a number talk was to remind them to use appropriate decimal language. If a student told me
that they added five and five for adding together two halves, I would seek clarification with that
student to see if I could encourage them to recognize their mistake and use correct language. I
also communicated with the students by asking "can someone clarify that for me?" if I did not
understand how a student was specifically explaining a way they solved the problem. My variety
of communication also varied between when I completed a whole group and small group talk.
When I was with a small group, I would open the floor to let any student talk during each step of
solving a problem instead of letting a single student explain their whole process of solving for
one problem. I also let each student in the small group explain their process, even if they were
incorrect, to see if I could get that student or other students to see what happened to make the
answer wrong. I asked questions at each step of the process in order to encourage students to
move to the next step in the solution.

I learned so many concepts about student thinking and mathematical reasoning during
this number talk project. I really think that this was a helpful assignment for both me as a future
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teacher and for my students as learners of mathematics. I learned that there were so many ways
in which to think about simple decimals. I personally had never thought of the idea of decimals
as related to money as one of my students did, but this was such a simple and effective way to
think and solve these problems. I also found that having students who got the correct answer
explain their reasoning first would often lead to the students who did not find the correct answer
to realize where they made a mistake and correct their answer and their thinking. This type of
interaction that led to peer-to-peer learning was amazing and was much more effective than me
as the teacher just informing the students of the correct answer.

I think the students gained a better understanding and usage of the language used to
describe decimals during this number talk. I noticed that during my first number talk, a majority
of the students were using incorrect language by saying descriptors such as "point" in place of
saying "decimal" or "and" when describing decimal numbers. However, by Friday, the students
were using terms including "hundredths" and proper language the first time they spoke and were
self-correcting without prompting when they did use improper language to describe decimals. I
also think the students gained a better understanding of decimals in general because they all
seemed able to add these seemingly difficult and scary numbers without having to write down
numbers or use the normal algorithm of lining up the decimals to find the solution. I know that I
personally would have found decimals less intimidating if I had known how to make friendly
numbers and adding using place value in my mind to solve problems the way my students did
during these number talks. I also noticed that a majority of the students in my homeroom seem to
have good attitudes when it comes to mathematics, and I believe that this may relate to the fact
that my cooperating teacher does number talks multiple times a week. The students seem excited
when it is time for number talks and even students in the lower-level mathematics class are
willing to participate and offer answers during number talks. These students are encouraged to
explore mathematics in a positive environment, so that encourages them to have a positive
mathematics attitude and good number sense.

After implementing these number talks this week, I am positive that I will be using
number talks in my future classroom. I think that these types of activities make a huge impact on
students in terms of their mathematics attitude, including their willingness and openness to the
subject. I want all of my future students to have the ability to be competent students and
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achievers in mathematics and I think activities such as these number talks will help to create this
good number sense and mathematics ability in my students. The pros of these talks would be that
it gives students a chance to interact with numerals and mathematical concepts outside of the
traditional method used in teaching mathematics. These talks encourage students to think about
mathematics in a low-pressure way without the use of paper and pencil, which can help them to
have an easier time thinking about mathematics when they are required to solve and think this
way. I also think a positive of these talks is that they help students to have better number sense
because they are requiring the students to think about numbers. While I do think there are many
positive aspects of number talks, they can be negative in that they are not exactly requiring every
student to really think about mathematics or solve the problem. A student may not really be
solving the problem if they know that they will not be called upon during the activity, something
that a teacher may have to think of a way to combat. It also may cause embarrassment for
students if they volunteer an incorrect answer, and make them not want to answer again for that
fear. While there are a few negative aspects related to number talks, I generally think that the
positives far outweigh the negatives, meaning that these talks should still be implemented in the
elementary school classroom. I think that having number talks in my future classroom is indeed
realistic, but recognizing the time constraints and numerous responsibilities of being a teacher
would be important to consider when attempting planning number talks into my classroom. I
think that having number talks at least a few days a week, such as my current cooperating teacher
does in her classroom, would be an effective use of not only the number talks but also the time
available to me as a teacher.

The single question that I took away from this number talk project was the way of telling
students that they are incorrect and correct their thinking and answer. Obviously, with
mathematics, there is only one correct answer, and it can present a problem when students offer
incorrect answers. I would just like more information on how to address this with students
without making them feel uncomfortable and encourage them to keep going to solve the problem
and become a better student of mathematics. I greatly enjoyed this project and will absolutely be
using the activity of number talks in my future classroom to develop good students of
mathematics.
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Children and Mathematics 11/09/2017

Monday Number Talk

Wednesday Number Talk

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Children and Mathematics 11/09/2017

Friday Number Talk (used with both third and fourth number talk)