Number Talk Reflection

By: Abby Pate

The teacher I had the opportunity to work with, Ms. Combs, conducted her own number

talk with the entire class before I conducted my number talk with some of the students. I was

able to pull the students to a table in the back to conduct my number talk, but it was an extremely

small table, so I was only able to conduct a number talk with a few students at a time. I would

have preferred to take them somewhere quieter where they would not be distracted by the other

students and the other students could not hear their answers. I also should have recorded them on

my phone so it wouldn’t have been as much of a distraction as it was with my laptop. One of the

students kept looking at himself on the laptop while it was recording.

I tried to make the students feel comfortable discussing with me by explaining to them in

the beginning that they are just helping me do some work and allowing me to see how much they

know. I was making them aware that they were allowed to provide any answer and they were not

being tested on their answers. I also asked some warm-up questions such as what do they like or

dislike about math before asking the math question. The students were learning about adding

three-digit numbers together using different strategies, so I had them solve an addition problem

dealing with two three-digit numbers.

I told them in the beginning that this would be a mental mathematics equation, then I told

them the problem and wrote it down for the students to solve. Once they solved the problem,

they told me their answers and I asked them how they solved it. After they explained their

strategy to me, I asked if there was another strategy they could have used to solve the equation.

Then they explained the other strategies they were learning about in class that would have been

appropriate to use in solving the same equation. The equation I gave them was quickly solved so

next time I will give them a more difficult equation that will make them work harder to solve.
They knew many possible strategies they could use to solve the equation and one student who

has ADHD and an extremely mild form of Autism was able to discuss a multiplication problem

that they haven’t yet reached in their learning. They have already developed a strong sense of

confidence in solving mathematics problems mentally.

I believe that I did well encouraging the students when they were explaining their

answers, I would smile and nod my head when they were answering and tell them good job. I

was nervous talking to the students and conducting the number talk which is what caused me to

stutter slightly through the problem. I also think that I facilitated the discussion well, but I should

have had the students write down their thought process so the other students could visibly see

that student’s thinking. I should have told the students to wait until everyone is done solving the

problem before they called out their answers. The students all seemed to understand the concepts

extremely well and could have used harder equations that would make them go into the

thousands place to give them more challenging problems.