Kevin Terrell MAED 3224 IMB Number Talk Reflection

Number Talk Reflection

I was fortunate to have been able to observe a number of math lessons and number talks

by the classroom teacher prior to selecting a specific computation problem that would engage

students and build on their understanding of place value. All math instruction takes place in the

morning after students arrive and check-in. The students were asked to join the teacher and I at

the carpet at the front of the classroom and sit in three rows. The students were well accustomed

to the procedural expectations of choosing “smart seats” to keep them from becoming distracted

during a lesson, not bringing any items with them to the carpet, and sitting properly facing the

person speaking. The lesson began with very few reminders to the expectations of the students’

behavior. I asked the teacher to make some observational notes before I began.

The previous days lesson delivered by the teacher was on addition of 10’s and 100’s to

three-digit numbers, such as 565+10, 565 +100, where the students further developed their

fluency of place value. As I began the number talk, I had the students recall what they had

learned on the previous day as I modeled their thinking on a dry erase board as they quickly

solved the 565+10, 565+100 addition problems. This practice was followed up with the addition

problem, 398+10 I chose this specific computation as I had seen a number of students having

difficulty in independent practice the day before, regrouping with tens to hundreds. I had also

seen a number of mistakes made on an assessment taken on Friday of the week prior where

students had to fill in the blanks adding by tens, such as 378, 388, ____,____,____. I felt this

extra practice would play nicely into the three-digit addition problems using an open number line

we would soon be solving together. I called on a certain student who I knew to have strong

conceptual, procedural and reasoning skills. I asked her to begin explaining how they could use

mental math to solve the 398+10 addition problem as I followed along written their response to

the prompt. The student began by saying, “I know that if I add the ones place first that 8+0=8
Kevin Terrell MAED 3224 IMB Number Talk Reflection

and if I add the tens place, 9+1=10, but I can’t have ten 10’s in the tens place so I regrouped ten

to the hundreds place and added the ten tens which is now a hundred to 300 which is 400. So, I

know that the answer is 408.” I modeled the students thinking on the dry erase board using a

place value chart to show the students steps. After having felt comfortable with the explanation

and the chorus of students responding in agreeance, I moved on to the heart of the number talk

when I wrote out an addition equation 590+213. I drew an open number line and asked students

to use their previous knowledge of adding tens and ones on an open number line, to how they

could add hundreds as well. I began my talk by asking what three-digit number in the equation

would be the most efficient to place on the open number line first. A student responded by saying

that “the biggest number that way you have less to add.”

The students have a hand signal where they hold two fingers up bending them up and

down if they agree with something another student says. I reminded them of this gesture to keep

the talk moving. If I were to go back and change anything, I might have had students turn and

talk as they explain to one another why this might be the most efficient strategy and circulate

among the groups looking for responses to include. I might have also after completing the entire

equation, had the students round up the first number of 590 to 600 and then add the remaining

sums. At the time I felt this might have been too confusing as they were just beginning to learn

this new strategy. The students agreed that adding the hundreds first was their best strategy,

followed by tens and then one’s place values. I wanted the students to see the three-digit number

being added broken up into its smallest parts using 100’s, 10’s and 1’s. I made sure to allow

students to explain one part, one step at a time and then I moved on to another student to hear

their reasoning. I also asked two students to give a more elaborative answer when we arrived at

the portion of the addition problem where regrouping was necessary, 790+10. This way I could

assess their fluency in adding by tens. We arrived at a correct sum and I showed them how their
Kevin Terrell MAED 3224 IMB Number Talk Reflection

breaking apart of the number in jumps coincided with the number written in expanded form. I

built on this idea of adding numbers broken apart and had the students guide me as I wrote 590

in expanded form and wrote the equation from example 2 pictured below. I posed this strategy as

a way we could check to see if we had solved the equation correctly. I made sure to ask them

“how many tens?” as we regrouped them to hundreds. In example 3, the students guided my

drawing where I wrote out a place value chart to use to check the open number line answer to see

if it was correct. I felt this step was helpful to those students who were still relying on this

strategy when adding larger numbers together and to bring a cohesiveness to their developing

number sense in a variety of written forms.

If there was anything, I wish I had gone back and done differently, I would have created

an anchor chart where students were called on to describe different strategies that can be written

down to explain and solve three-digit addition problems. I still wonder if having this tool

available for all students to see they might have been more confident when using the open

number line. There were a few students in the group who were still having difficulty with this

new strategy, so if I were to do it again, I might give them a dry erase board or manipulatives

with a place value chart to guide them towards the objective.

After having asked the teacher following my lesson as to what she observed, she was

pleased that her students were so well engaged in my instruction and her greatest

recommendation was for me to allow students to turn and talk after open ended questions or ones

that may be more difficult for them to respond to in a short amount of time.

Concrete manipulatives and drawing hundreds, tens and ones blocks in a place value

chart are still very much a part of their problem-solving strategies at this stage of three-digit

addition for this group of students. The standard NC.2.NBT.7 does not specifically state that the
Kevin Terrell MAED 3224 IMB Number Talk Reflection

students are required to use an open number line to solve this type of addition problem, but it is a

part of the school curriculum and this is why this specific strategy was taught to the students.

Where I saw them grasp the concept was when I asked them if we could “break apart” a three-

digit number. The students had been working on writing three-digit numbers in expanded form

and they quickly saw how when the number was broken apart the jumps along the open number

line were easier to track and solve the equation more efficiently. Following these representations

of place value strategies, many students were able to use mental math to complete their assigned

independent work. Example below

Student work following number talk

Number talk solutions