My third graders were excitedly sitting in their seats filling in their mood meter. I was about to try a new Math Talk routine Thursday, one they hadn't seen yet. I projected the image onto the screen from this amazing website called NTimages and waited in anticipation:
It's always so interesting to me to see the way their minds work. I thought they would start seeing fractions in the picture and analyzing the fractions, but instead they found commonalities in multiplication.
Before I knew it, my students got together and were creating and solving their own math problems. They looked at the image and saw (4 x 2) + (5 x 2) +6 = 24. Next, they pushed each other to represent their thinking with parentheses, arrays, and word sentences. Another student, always the daring rebel, stated that she was going to solve it her own way and said the equation really was (9 x 2) + 6.
The students talked about how they were both right and how numbers can be decomposed in a multitude of ways. The differences in ideas moved our conversation forward as my students challenged each other, pushed mathematical models, and are learning to respectfully disagree with one another as well.
At the end, we filled out a Math Talk Checklist, where the students self-graded. If you are interested in the Math Talk Checklist, you can click here to get it for free. I will send other free resources, tips and tricks there as well.
The Math Talk is so important because it simulates conversations they will have as adults one day. They will all have to be in meetings at some point in their life, and they will need to know how to listen, problem solve, interact respectfully, help one another and solve company problems. Math Talk Routines are integral to math but also life outside of school.
Happy Mathing!
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