![]() ![]() I would then re-group visually another time and ask students to share with a neighbour how they might describe the following: The following visual shows what we might write to represent the verbal description of 2 groups of 2 groups of 8:Īlthough, another student might think of it more like this working from the inside out: ![]() I am anticipating that students might come up with 2 groups of 2 groups of 8 or 2 groups of 8, copied 2 times, or similar. Describe in words what it looks like and then, what could we write symbolically to represent the same groupings? I’d then prompt students again to describe what they see and attempt to pay attention to the groupings outlined. Then, I might display the same 32 squares, but re-group visually to show the following: Here’s what we might display for students who say “4 groups of 8” to ensure that all other students can “see” what the student sharing sees: If I’m leading this visual number talk in a classroom, I’d be recording what students are saying on the chalkboard / whiteboard to model their description visually and symbolically. Note that we are still leaving the questioning quite open, however I’m anticipating that students might say something like: What might you say to describe how we have grouped the squares now? 4 plus 4 plus 4 plus 4 plus 4 plus 4 plus 4 plus 4īy using the above image, I’d then prompt students with:.The intention here is for students to get beyond saying “32,” and to start saying things like: The prompt I would give students here is something like this:ĭescribe how many squares you see in as many ways as possible to your neighbour. In the video above, we start with the following visual: Let’s dive in! Visual Prompt #1: Open Questioning to Lower the Floor The silent solution video is much longer than usual because I attempt to fully unpack how the halving and doubling strategy works using number properties. Keep an eye out for number properties as we will be unpacking those near the end. This is a great way to lower the floor on this task and ensure that all students in your classroom have an entry point. To support the work of this document, I’m attempting to build in a Jo Boaler-style visual number talk series of visual prompts for multiplication to unpack, through investigation, the halving and doubling strategy. It is very well balanced and I’m very proud to share it with teachers in my district and across the province of Ontario. So while this document was pitched as a “back to basics” document stuffed full of demands for rote memorization without worrying about conceptual understanding, that isn’t true at all. When you search for the word “basic,” you find it in the actual text only twice, while the word “understand” comes up 46 times. However, please know that this document does not promote rote memorization without understanding. It is also worth noting that in this document that was advertised to go “ back to basics,” is really just highlighting parts of the curriculum that the Ministry considers “fundamentals”. What works? Research into Practice (64).įor Ontario teachers, it is worth noting that the “new” document is simply highlighting parts of the current Ontario Grade 1 to 8 Mathematics Curriculum and is not new content. The mathematical territory between direct modelling and proficiency. However, they would benefit from learning these facts by using an increasingly sophisticated series of strategies rather than by jumping directly to memorization. With the recent release of the new Ontario Ministry of Education Focusing on the Fundamentals of Math: A Teacher’s Guide document, I thought I’d pick something that is highlighted from the document and dive into it deeply from an approach outlined in the guide such as the Alex Lawson quote included in the document:Ĭhildren should learn their number facts. This is amazing news! However, the reality is that while using number talks in the classroom can be helpful, I have witnessed on a number of occasions where students learn how to apply strategies without fully understanding why they work. Number Talks have become commonplace in many elementary math classrooms across North America to help students build their number sense and overall number fluency. ![]() Explore a multiplication number talk that explicitly unpacks the doubling and halving strategy to show how number properties like commutative & associative. ![]()
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