Making number talks matter: developing mathematical practices and deepening understanding, grades 4-10

342 Pages·2015·2.024 MB·English

by  Humphreys, Cathy, Parker, Ruth E

Making Number Talks
Matter
Developing Mathematical Practices and Deepening
Understanding, GRADES 4-10
CATHY HUMPHREYS & RUTH PARKER
FOREWORD BY JO BOALER
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Stenhouse Publishers
www.stenhouse.com
Copyright © 2015 by Cathy Humphreys and Ruth Parker
All rights reserved. This e-book is intended for individual use
only. You can print a copy for your own personal use and you
can access this e-book on multiple personal devices (i.e.
computer, e-reader, smartphone). You may not reproduce
digital copies to share with others, post a digital copy on a
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in any form by any other means, electronic or mechanical,
without permission from the publisher.
Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders and
students for permission to reproduce borrowed material. We
regret any oversights that may have occurred and will be
pleased to rectify them in subsequent reprints of the work.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Humphreys, Cathy.
Making number talks matter : developing mathematical
practices and deepening understanding, grades 4-10 / Cathy
Humphreys and Ruth Parker ; foreword by Jo Boaler.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-57110-998-9 (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-62531-019-4 (ebook)
1. Mathematics--Study and teaching (Elementary) 2.
3
Mathematics--Study and teaching (Middle school) I. Parker,
Ruth E. II. Title.
QA135.6.H857 2015
510.71’2--dc23
2014044584
Cover design by Blue Design. Interior design and typesetting
by Victory Productions, Inc.
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To Ellie and Ezra (and Cathy’s little ones yet to come) —
you’re the inspiration for our work and give us hope for the
future.
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Thank you for purchasing this Stenhouse e-book; we
appreciate the opportunity to help you become an even more
effective teacher. This e-book is for your own individual use:
you may print one copy for your own personal use and you
can access your e-book on multiple personal devices,
including computers, e-readers, and smartphones. However,
you cannot make print or digital copies to share with others,
nor may you post this e-book on any server, website, or other
digital or online system. If you would like permission to
distribute or post sections of this e-book, please contact
Stenhouse at [email protected]. If you would like
to see a full list of the e-books Stenhouse offers, please visit
us at www.stenhouse/allebooks
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Contents
Foreword: The Wonder of Number Talks by Jo Boaler
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter What Are Number Talks?
1: Why Are They So Important?
Chapter Getting Number Talks Started
2:
Chapter Guiding Principles for Enacting Number Talks in
3: the Classroom
Prelude to the Operations
Chapter Subtraction Across the Grades
4:
Chapter Multiplication Across the Grades
5:
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Chapter Addition Across the Grades
6:
Chapter Division Across the Grades
7:
Chapter Making Sense of Fractions (and Decimals and
8: Percent)
Chapter Number Talks Can Spark Investigations
9:
Chapter Managing Bumps in the Road
10:
Chapter Moving Forward
11:
Appendix
A
Appendix
B
Appendix
C
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References
Index
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Foreword: The Wonder of Number
Talks
Number Talks are the perfect start to any math class. They are
like no other teaching method I know. Many important math
activities require a lot of planning and an hour of teaching
time, but Number Talks are different. In a really short span of
time (fifteen minutes or so), teachers can provide students
with some of the greatest opportunities—they can change
their view of mathematics, teach them number sense, help
them develop mental math skills, and, at the same time,
engage them in creative, open mathematics. I taught Number
Talks in my online class for teachers (www.youcubed.org),
which was taken by 40,000 people. Since then, teachers of all
grade levels have been telling me that Number Talks have
changed everything for their students. How fantastic then that
Cathy Humphreys and Ruth Parker, two of the greatest
practitioners I know, who have wisdom about mathematics
learning that is deeper than almost anyone I have ever met,
have teamed up to write this book.
Ruth Parker and Kathy Richardson created Number Talks in
the early 1990s, although few people know this fact. Cathy
Humphreys has been instrumental in extending Number Talks
to the secondary level and has studied their use with high
school students as well as with graduate students at Stanford
University. Together, Cathy and Ruth have developed
incredible knowledge of the best ways to teach Number Talks
with students of all grade levels. That knowledge is packed
into this highly readable book.
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