What is a Number Talk?
A number talk is "math talk" guided by a teacher to help children articulate their math thinking. This meets students where they are at in their learning process and allows for students to learn from other students' thinking. One purpose of Number Talks is to get the students to see that they do not need to "start at the beginning" for every problem they solve. For example, if students know the double fact of 7 + 7 = 14 then we know that one more 7 = 15. They should start seeing (7+7=14+1=15). They didn't have to use their fingers or counters, they simply had to rely on something they knew and went from that point.
So what does this look like with fractions? "The NMAP panel concluded that students' with fraction difficulties are one of the largest obstacles for schools!" (Riccomini, Paul J., and Bradley S. Witzel. "Fractions and Decimals." Response to Intervention in Math. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2010. N. pag. Print) Because of this difficulty, we must address the ever present trouble spot. When we teach adding fractions with unlike denominators, we teach to create an equivalent fraction. For example, in the problem 3/4 + 7/8, the student creates an equivalent fraction of 6/8 + 7/8 = 13/8. Yes, that is the correct answer.... however, it is the answer - what is the thinking behind the answer? Let's look at this problem another way. Does the student know that 3/4 + 1 = 1 3/4 - 1/8 = 1 5/8
I located this video on Teacher Tube - the teacher is really "playing" with different fractions to get her students to explore fractions.
Fraction Number Talk
Check out Number Talks by Sherry Parrish to explore mental math strategies in more detail.
