Before I begin my reflection on Week 10 I want to talk about what happened during weeks 5-9. I inconsistently did number talks during those couple of weeks. There were a few weeks where I did not do a number talk at all or other weeks where I did a number talk in one class and not in others. I wish there was a good reason for why I did not do them, but there isn't. I think a lot of the reason is because of time. During those weeks, I had the number talks on my lesson plan but ended up not doing them. I guess I did not make it a priority. Also, I felt like my students did not see the benefit and had negative attitudes about number talks. So, I saw it as another challenge I would have to deal with in the period. Rather than facing the challenge and trying to overcome it, I guess I ran away. However, I still see great benefits in number talks and I want my students to enjoy them so I did one number talk last week (109 + 26). I wanted to give the students a problem that all students would feel successful on, but that was enough of a challenge for the students that have been successful earlier.
Reflection
In all of the classes, the traditional algorithm was the most used strategy. However, it is not a strategy the students choose to share in front of the class. When polling the students on which strategies they used, the traditional algorithm gets the most hands. However, there are many different methods students use that break numbers down and are flexible ways of thinking. Because I had a long lapse between doing number talks, I am not surprised at the amount of students that still do the traditional algorithm. In the same vain, I noticed that the same students are the ones to volunteer. However, more students raised their hands to share out the answer and I did get a couple new kids to share their strategies. The main issue I faced was that students did not seem to see the value of hearing other people's strategies. The students I work with are mainly motivated by getting a "grade" for work they have done. In general in my class they will ask, "Are you collecting this? Are we going to get a grade?" They only want to do work if they will get a grade for it. So, it is hard to motivate them to participate and be involved in things that are not graded. Going into this next week, I am going to continue on with addition because the students are still not confident sharing and I want more students to try other methods besides the traditional algorithm. I am going to consistently do number talks, regardless of challenges that may arise.
Melissa!
ReplyDeleteSorry I have not responded in a timely manner!
I have definitely received some negative feelings around number talks, but I am lucky that in each class there are a good group of students who enjoy them, or at least play along with them. This makes my life easier because I think that the entire class is slowly buying into the idea of number talks.
For those students who have had negative attitudes towards them, I have had individual conversations with them and have given them a personal goal for the number talks. For example, I have one student who was really really struggling to complete the number talks--they were really hard for him and his basic math skills are very low. So, I gave him the goal of trying to understand AT LEAST one strategy that was being described aloud. I told him that this would be a way for him to work on his listening skills in terms of mathematics and a way for him to begin trying to see if one of the strategies he is listening to seems easier for him than what he is doing now. While this seemed to help with his attitude, I did not do a good job of following up with him about this goal and so I have no idea if he is actually trying to understand the other strategies or not.
Maybe try giving a very specific class goal? For example, understanding one of your classmates' strategies, being able to communicate another classmates' strategy, etc. And then maybe you could think of ways to hold them accountable for this? Like having them write down/describe another person's strategy??
I'm not sure this would necessarily work with their motivation levels here...let me think more and I'll get back to you!
Hi, Melissa - I am so glad to see your post! It is generous of you to be so open about not doing number talks regularly and trying to think out loud about why - and I admire your courage for not giving up despite the troubles you are having. One thing you said is really encouraging: "However, there are many different methods students use that break numbers down and are flexible ways of thinking."
ReplyDeleteLast spring we faced some of these same problems. I have watched all of our NT's and all of our planning sessions and the things you mention are the things we worked as a team to overcome. So here are some of the things that gave us success:
> contexts (remember the milkshakes problem?) You had quite a breakthrough that day.
>And remember how engaged they got in percents?
Another idea: have you tried doing an assessment? or having them write you a letter about what they think about doing number talks? What benefits do they see? Sometimes it is scary to ask kids what they think (because they might actually tell us!) but it can be a window into the resistance you feel.
Remember how hard we thought about what problem to do and what operation to do? And how we weighed the pros and cons of different operations and then number choices? there is no "right" answer for the best operation to choose; it is a problem-solving process to hit on something and it takes time.
We also talked, towards the end, of the difficulty in getting kids to "value" number talks or valuing other ways to do problems. Yet, at the end, several kids commented on how beneficial that was. Somehow, we need to find ways of helping hs kids to feel smart when they think together like this.
You are pretty alone down there, so if you want, we can think together. I would be glad to think with you. I just hope you remember how much progress your students made last year because of you - your questions, your support, your encouragement. Right now you aren't having a lot of success but don't let that stop you!
Cathy
Tara, thanks for the recommendation. I really like your idea and I am going to make class goals for each number talk.
ReplyDeleteCathy, I am going to give them a reflection prompt and have them write about their views of number talks. I will update how everything goes! Thank you for all your suggestions and encouragement.