Students in Charm Pace’s eight-grade math class at Clifton Ridge Middle School, have been engaged in “number talks” two to three days each week this year.
Number talks are when students are presented with math problems, and they simply share their thinking about the problems. Based on the students’ responses, the discussion follows the “low floor high ceiling” concept.
With this concept, students are encouraged to share their observations, thoughts, vocabulary, and math skills related to the question to allow the discussions to go from simple observation to complex mathematical content. In this low risk setting, every student is motivated to contribute in the conversation.
Students started by submitting their responses via Padlet so that everyone has an opportunity to have their thoughts shared with the teacher and/or class. When time permitted, before the whole class discussion, students read over each other’s Padlet submissions and provide commentary/feedback.
Students were reluctant to share their thinking to start, but through teacher encouragement and support by following classroom norms from their peers, the students have come a very long way. To spark more student discussion, most of the class number talks followed the format of “Which one doesn’t belong and why?” This format reassured students that there was no “wrong” answer, which boosted their confidence to participate the number talks.
As the classes progressed, the class decided to share their number talk expertise by inviting teachers in the building to come participate with them. The excitement they had quickly grew to inviting Jones County School Superintendent Charles Lundy and Jones County School Board Chairperson Ginger Bailey to come join the class for number talks.
Once the second semester began, Pace decided to make the number talks a family affair by inviting parents, grandparents, and older siblings to participate. The special guests joined class discussions via Zoom and even speakerphone. These special guests also have included Pace’s family members, co-teacher Coach Miller and student teacher Ms. Barrett.
The class number talks grew with even more participation across the county with collaboration via TEAMS with Chandra Williams’s Algebra 2 class at JCHS, Caroline Baker’s fourth grade gifted class at Wells Elementary, and Amy Flanders’s fourth grade class at Wells Elementary. One class was fortunate enough to have the in-person special guests of Shermaine Pinkard’s seventh grade math class to come join a number talk.
The first community guest shared how she uses math as a nurse practitioner. Over the past month, the class has had community guests to include officers with the Jones County Sheriff Department, Mayor Ed Barbee, retired educator/ principal Cecil Patterson and The Jones County News Editor Debbie Lurie-Smith.
The class ended the school year with number talks including Joy Carr from Jones County Family Connection, local attorney Mr. G. Morris Carr, and Steven Smith, a NASA Johnson Space Center Education Specialist from Houston, Texas.
Number talks by nature are simple, yet complex. Pace’s math class is excited to share how they are learning and growing mathematically with their peers, their teachers, their families, and the community.
