- Number talks have become quite popular
in the last few years,
but what most of you call number talks
I call number strings.
I'm Christina Tondevold, the
Recovering Traditionalist,
and today, I'd like to
analyze number talks
versus number strings in our
quest to build our math minds
so we can build the math
minds of our students.
Now the first thing is that number talks
actually started back in the 1990s
with Kathy Richardson and Ruth Parker.
Now a lot of us became
familiar with number talks
through Sherry Parish's book
that was published in 2014
but from what I read in
Sherry Parish's book,
that to me was more of number strings
versus number talks.
So what's the difference?
Well to me, number talks
are typically one problem,
and we are talking about that one problem
and all of the different
ways that kids solve
that one problem.
Number strings are a
series of related problems
that kind of lead kids
into a particular strategy
or a particular model.
Now that leads me to the second difference
where in a number talk,
I as the facilitator of the number talk,
am not using a particular model
when I'm putting up student thinking.
I'm only using a model if a kid says
they used that particular model.
If they say, "I thought
of it on a number line,
"and this was how I did
it," then I would show that.
In a number string, there
might be a particular model
that I have in mind that
I want to show the kids
how it works on this
problem and this problem
and this problem, how it
works every single time,
so you can have a specific model in mind
that you are facilitating the
use of in a number string,
whereas in a number talk, it's more about
how the kids are modeling
and seeing the problem
versus in a string, you're
kind of leading them
into a certain model
or a certain strategy.
So that leads me into when
should you use which one?
So to me, again, this is based upon
how I've been using the two.
You may disagree with me, so
let me know in the comments
but to me, I like to use number talks
when I'm working with a group of students
who already have strategies.
If I put a problem 'cause you're
just putting up one problem
and you get the
deer-in-the-headlights look,
then the number talk may
not be the best thing
because they don't have
different strategies
and so they are all
solving it the same way.
That makes it hard to do a
talk about the different ways
kids are solving it.
So in a number talk, you've
got to have a group of kids
who have some strategies
and then you can talk about
the different strategies
and how they are alike
and how they are different.
That's one of the big powerful
parts of a number talk
is that you're not just showing
all of the different ways
that kids solved it because
that can be overwhelming
for a lot of kids.
To do a number talk correctly,
you also need to make connections.
If Johnny did it this way
and Jose did it this way,
we've got to talk about
how are those still alike?
How are they different?
What did he do that's
different than what he did
and but yet how are they still connected
because for our struggling kids,
sometimes a number talk
can be very overwhelming
because they see six different ways
that people solved the problem
and they don't get any of them.
So you've got to spend
some time in number talks
to be able to make connections
between the different ways
that kids are solving them.
In a number string, I like to use those
to help develop strategies.
If I'm working with kids who
don't have strategies already,
a string of problems is super powerful
to help build those strategies.
So let's take a quick little look here.
This is just one example, not, you know,
this can definitely be changed
depending upon the grade
level that you work with
but I might start out with the
string off to the left here
if my kids don't have a
strategy or strategies
for that bottom problem.
So I might start out just
showing nine plus seven
and talking about how
they solved that problem.
Then I would show 29 plus 17
and see if they're using
the same type of strategy.
They may have the different
strategy for that problem
but I want to make the connection
that how they solved nine plus seven
connects to how you can solve 29 plus 17
and then that connects to how
you can solve 498 plus 267,
and then I finally get to the
problem which is the stuff
that I'm actually wanting
my kids to develop
at this grade level is
when I'm adding decimals,
can I use those same strategies?
You bet.
But if they haven't
made those connections,
then I'm gonna use a string
to help bridge the gap
between the things that they learned prior
to the stuff I'm wanting
them to learn now.
If I just throw up three
and 99/100 plus 17/100,
and they don't have strategies already
and they haven't made connections,
then I'm probably gonna
get every kid solving it
the same way or not
knowing how to solve it.
So again, a string to me is a
way to help develop strategies
whereas a number talk is to talk about
the different strategies kids
have for that one problem
and they connect together,
how they're alike,
how they are different.
So I hope that that's helped
you build your math mind,
so you can go build the
math minds of your students.
If you would like to learn more
about using number strings,
I use them as number strings,
but I talk about them as number talks
because most of you are
familiar with number talks,
so I try to go back and forth but really,
I'm gonna be doing a training coming up
that is five days of using
number talks, AKA number strings,
to build students' fact fluency.
There's one for addition,
for our pre-K to second-grade teachers,
and one for multiplication
for third- through fifth-grade teachers.
There's links below this
video that you can sign up
to participate in this free training.
You're gonna see me doing number
strings, AKA number talks,
with some students.
I'm working with first graders
and I'm working with fourth graders
to develop their fact
fluency over five days.
You're gonna see me
working with those kids,
you're gonna get the downloads
of the number strings
that I used, and you're gonna
get the information about
how I crafted those number strings
to build the strategy that I
needed for those first graders
and for those fourth graders
because as I say a lot about number sense
that number sense can't
be taught, it's caught.
The same is true for strategies.
We can't teach kids strategies.
We have to help them catch strategies,
and number talks and
strings are a great way
to help our kiddos catch strategies.
So join me for the free training.
I would love to have you
see how I work with kids
to develop their fact fluency
through number strings and number talks.
So have a great day.
