Digging Deeper: Making Number Talks Matter Even More, Grades 3-10

Making the transition to student-centered learning begins with finding ways to get students to share their thinking, something that can be particularly challenging for older learners. Authors Ruth Parker and Cathy Humphreys return with Digging Deeper: Making Number Talks Matter Even More, Grades 3-10, taking the readers into classrooms where their Number Talks routines are taught.

In this comprehensive sequel to their best-selling book, Making Number Talks Matter, Parker and Humphreys apply their 15 minute lessons to older grade levels to inspire and initiate math talks. Through vignettes in the book, you'll meet other teachers learning how to listen closely to students and how to prompt them into figuring out solutions to problems. You will learn how to make on-the-spot decisions, continually advancing and deepening the conversation. Digging Deeper includes:

• Sample Problems: Digging Deeper is filled with a range of Number Talks problems, 10-15 minute warm-up routines that lend themselves to mental math and comparison of strategies
• Navigating Rough Spots: Learn how to create a safe environment for tricky, problematic, or challenging student discussions that can arise when talking through problems and sharing ideas
• Responding to Mistakes: Ways to handle misconceptions and mathematical errors that come up during the course of Number Talk conversations.

Digging Deeper is filled with teaching tips for using wait time between problems more efficiently, honoring student contributions while still correcting errors, and teaching concepts while nudging independent thinking. Through daily practice and open conversation, you can make Number Talks matter more.

Ruth Parker and Cathy Humphreys have taught elementary- through university-level mathematics throughout the country. Currently, they co-direct Transforming Mathematics Classrooms through Number Talks, a statewide mathematics leadership project in Washington.

Parker has worked for decades with students, teachers, and parents and has directed several statewide mathematics leadership projects.

Humphreys taught grades 2-12 in California for 30 years. She also led professional development courses and workshops for the Mathematics Education Collaborative (MEC) and Math Solutions and served as a middle school mathematics coach for the Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative (SVMI). She received her PhD in mathematics education at Stanford University in 2016.