Kaʻapana 1

Kaluhi Kaʻapana
ITE 325
Holly Pope
1 February 2019

Number Talk Reflection

When planning for my number talk, I was worried that my students would have a difficult

time doing mental math. I decided to start with an easier problem, 8x15. The first day that my

MT met, she asked me what my concerns were. One of my biggest concerns was not being able

to clearly explain the strategies to the students in Hawaiian. I have never taught a lesson in

Hawaiian language before this one. I even made my boyfriend sit down while I taught him the

strategies, since he went to a Hawaiian Immersion school in elementary. I decided that I would

see how the first problem went and I got a feel of where they were, I would try the problem we

did in class, 12x15.

On the day of my Number Talk, I began by asking them to move to a different area of the

room, but not to bring anything. This completely surprised them because they are used to

bringing their math notebook with them to the floor, during the rare times we do math on the

floor. The reason I wanted them to move was because I wanted to use a whiteboard that was

pretty clear. I explained my directions to them and that I wanted them to do thumbs up when

they reached the answer. When I put the problem on the board, some of the students got really

nervous. One of the low level students began pretending to write the standard algorithm on the

floor with her finger. Some students were writing with their finger in the air. Others just sat there

and stared at the problem. The sixth graders were with their math teacher, so I had a small

group of fifth graders. This allowed me to give everyone the time to try and solve it, which I think

made the students feel better. They surprised me when I saw everyone had an answer. When I

called on them, they had a difficult time explaining their strategy. I asked them questions like,
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why did you do that? How did you know to do that? And it forced them to understand the math

they were doing. For instance, when they walked me through the standard algorithm, they were

able to explain to me why you would carry the 1 over the tens place in the second problem.

As I gave them my strategies, I was nervous about my explanation not being clear.

When I gave them my strategy they seemed to understand. I gave them one strategy per

problem. I was hoping that they would utilize the strategy I gave them in the first problem for the

second, but I think they felt a little intimidated by the double digits in the second problem. I could

see how nervous and anxious they were when I wrote the problem on the board. They also took

much longer to solve the problem. Many of them did the standard algorithm with an exception of

one student. The one students broke up the 15 to 12 and 3, then multiplied those number by the

12 and added them together. This was a surprise because I had not thought of this strategy in

my planning.

The talk moves I used was revoicing, reasoning, and waiting. I used revoicing when I

was documenting their answers on the board. I asked questions like, “is this what you did in

your head?” “Is this how it looked when you thought about it?” When I was writing down the

standard algorithm, they were forced to clearly explain what they did and why they did things,

such as carrying the 1. I used reasoning when I showed my strategy. I wanted to see if my

explanation was clear to them, so I asked, “why does this work?” They were able to answer and

explain why my strategy made sense. Finally, I used waiting while they were thinking about the

answer. I really wanted everyone to feel encouraged to do the problem, so I waited for everyone

to find the answer. I didn’t really have to give wait time when I was waiting for an answer

because they were all very eager to answer the questions and explain their strategies.

Something I would do differently is that I would keep a written record of the strategies,

such as writing it on a big paper to keep in the classroom. My MT noticed that I had erased the
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first problem because there wasn’t enough room on the board. She said that this probably

would’ve encouraged them to use the strategy I showed them from the first problem in the

second. I agree with that and this is where I got the idea of keeping a big piece of paper with

strategies in the class. What went well was my explanation of the strategy. They understood

what I had done in my strategy and why. I also was really happy how engaged and calm they

were, I think the calmness came from using the thumbs up instead of raising their hands. I was

also really happy to hear that they really liked doing the number talk and they wanted to keep

going. My MT asked if I could do a number talk with them each time I came into field. As we are

preparing for state testing, I think she wants them to have these strategies and to use them in

their everyday math lessons.

Overall, I feel really good about my Number Talk and my students really enjoyed it. I am

planning to use the big chart paper to document the strategies we do. I also really want to see

them use strategies other than the standard algorithm. Another hope of mine is for them to

overcome their fear of multiplying double digits in their head.

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