The relationship between number talks and ambitious instruction: learning from beginning teachers

ABSTRACTNumber talks offer one way for beginning teachers to engage in ambitious instruction (Lampert et al., 2010) that fosters students’ conceptual understanding. This paper explores: (1) features of the number talk routine and (2) how beginning teachers’ enactment of number talks are aligned with ambitious instruction. The authors utilized Cazdan’s (2001) sequential and selectional dimensions to systematically analyze videos of 17 number talks enacted by seven beginning teachers. Findings indicate that the number talk routine consisted of introducing, collecting, idea sharing, and closing phases. Additionally, using the M-Scan instrument (Berry et al., 2013) to measure whether lessons were ambitious, the authors found that more ambitious lessons included number talks where teachers supported multiple students to engage in another student’s strategy rathter than simply shaing individual strategies. We discuss several important implications for mathematics teacher education and research on ambitious mathematics instruction.KEYWORDS: Number talksmathematics teacher educationteacher movesambitious instruction AcknowledgmentsThis material is based upon work supported by grants from the Spencer Foundation under Grant No. 201600103 and the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DGE 1535024. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the National Science Foundation [DGE 1535024]; Spencer Foundation [201600103].Notes on contributorsByungeun PakByungeun Pak is assistant professor of elementary teacher education at Utah Tech University, USA. His research interests are ambitious and equitable instruction on the part of novice teachers. In particular, he is interested in beginning teachers’ ambitious and equitable use of curriculum materials with longitudinal data and the efficacy of teaching practices, such as number talks, implemented by novice teachers.Jillian M. CavannaJillian M. Cavanna is an assistant professor of elementary education at University of Hartford, USA. She conducts research on teaching and learning to teach mathematics. Within this work, she focuses on coherence, learning to teach ambitiously, and how teachers use evidence from their classrooms to improve instruction. Jillian is interested in research methodologies that honor and encourage the contributions of practicing teachers.Brent E. JacksonBrent E. Jackson is a research associate in mathematics education at WestEd, a nonprofit research, development, and services agency. Brent’s research interests include small group work, how genders are mobilized in classrooms, and teachers' learning in relation to issues of equity and social justice. Brent draws on a variety of qualitative methodologies to study teaching and learning.