I couldn’t believe my eyes! David was teaching one of the highest achieving students in the class how to multiply using a mental math strategy. After several failed attempts to utilize any strategy other than the traditional one, he looked at me and said, “There is no other way.”Īfter this exchange, and sensing both my and the student’s frustration, David walked over to the student and said, “This is what she means.” He proceeded to show his new classmate how to break the 24 into 20 and 4 and then multiply each part by 8 to get 160 + 32 = 192. I went over to his desk, reviewed his work, validated his effort, and said, “That is not what I asked you to do.” With a puzzled look and a know-it-all smile, he stared at me, and then I asked him to try again. After a few moments, one of my high achievers, whom I did not teach in fourth grade, raised his hand with the solution. I asked them to find the product for 24 x 8. Given his success and relentless desire to succeed, I was thrilled to have another year with David!ĭuring the first few days with my fifth grade group, which had about 10 new faces, I posed a mental math challenge for my students. However, by the end of the year, he had made a tremendous amount of progress and only missed five questions (out of about 50) on the state test. Needless to say, David struggled through the year. In fact, he had failed the state assessment the previous year in third grade.

Just to give you a little background about David, he came to me in fourth grade as one of my lowest performers. Because I looped with my fourth grade class up to fifth grade, I was teaching David for a second year. Some years ago, I had a student named David. NOTE: As Amazon Associates, we earn from qualifying purchases. This post includes an overview of how and why number talks work, tips and strategies to get you started, as well as a variety of resources to use on your journey. Welcome Friends! Today’s guest post was contributed by Shametria Routt Banks, The Routty Math Teacher, and is about implementing number talks in the classroom.

The Grapes of Math by Greg Tang