“Through the use of number talks in your classroom, how have you seen the classroom environment and student learning positively impacted?”

Please take a moment to send your response on the question of the month to kdemath@education.ky.gov.

Marsha Reddick of Taylor County High School shared her response to August’s question: “What instructional practice or strategy are you excited about using in your mathematics classroom this year?”

“I am reading Jo Boaler’s ‘Mathematical Mindsets.’ I am incorporating ideas from her book and intentionally focusing on a growth mindset, as opposed to a fixed mindset, in our classroom this year. I’m sharing ideas from the book with my kids – you are not born ‘good at math’ – everyone has the capability to be a strong mathematician with work and practice.

“Now for the apps – I use both Remind and Google Classroom with my kids on a regular basis. I post videos and practice for each topic for my kids in Google Classroom along with additional resources like those for ACT prep. I use remind two to three times per week to communicate with students and parents about upcoming assessments and weekly overviews. Both Remind and Google Classroom are free to use. Remind also has a new two-ways chat option this year.”

Renee Watkins of South Warren High School (Warren County), shared the following:

“This year, I have tried to implement active strategies and those that help students judge for themselves and with each other whether or not they are understanding.

“My favorite so far is Quiz, Quiz, Trade, which is a formative assessment strategy in which each student gets a card with one problem on the front and the answer on the back. Students find a partner by Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up. They high five the person that they will pair with and show their partner the problem on their card so that the answer if facing them and the problem is facing their partner. Partners take turns answering the problem on each other’s card. Then they trade cards and at the teacher’s signal, go find another partner and repeat.

“Quiz, Quiz, Trade works well with those things that students can think about to get an answer. Next week in Pre-calculus, I will use this activity to help students recognize end behavior and the y-intercept for polynomials. The following week in Algebra II, I will use it for students to practice naming any key feature they choose (vertex, x-intercepts, or y-intercept) given either vertex, standard or factored form.”