So You Want to Try an Asynchronous Number Talk?

A few weeks ago, I saw conversations about number talks on twitter and I thought, "How can I incorporate these asynchronously in a distance learning model?" Then, like magic, I came across a webinar from Achieve the Core and decided to sign up. During the webinar, Bethany Lockhart Johnson demonstrated how she used Flipgrid with her kindergarteners by having them record their answer to a problem, and then she would create a summary video where she pointed out different solutions and strategies and she shared that with her students. Check out her post about it here.

I was inspired by Bethany's idea, and I thought, this would work perfectly for an asynchronous number talk! I have used flipgrid in the past, but only a couple of times and not with many kids at once. So I put out a call to the #mtbos to help me out, and they delivered! I created a topic with a number talk using visual patterns (I got this idea from Sara Van Der Werf, check out the blog post here). I asked other math teachers to respond, explaining how they counted the hearts in the picture:

I loved seeing all of the different responses and the ways people recorded them. Here are a few things I love about using Flipgrid:

• It's super easy to use and share with students (using a link, QR code, or sending it directly to Google Classroom)
• Students can record themselves without showing their faces by using the whiteboard tool, filters, or emojis (this is a BIG deal for me because some of my students are super shy)
• It's really easy for you as a teacher or your students to leave comments/feedback
• As a teacher, you can set time limits and incorporate videos, images, or articles for students to respond to
• You can see the grid in "student view" (something I think every educational tool should have)
• ALL OF THE VIDEOS HAVE AUTOMATIC CAPTIONS 👏

So now that I had all of these responses, my next step was to figure out the best way to use them.

Idea #1: Create a summary video for my students to watch and comment on

This idea was based off of what Bethany demonstrated in the webinar I watched. It was kind of complicated to set up, but it worked. Here's what I did:

1. Looked through the submitted videos and created a "mixtape" on Flipgrid to show off different strategies
2. Set up a zoom call and connected it to my iPad. I screen shared my Notability App so I could write on the screen and record responses like using a white board. You could also use the whiteboard function on zoom to do this as well.
3. Make the Flipgrid screen small enough to take up half of the screen and then make the zoom screen half of the screen. 
4. Recorded the whole thing using Loom.

Check out my video (and don't worry, the featured educators all gave permission to use their videos!):

Number Talk Summary Video

How I plan to adjust this for classroom use:

• Try to pick different students each week, but showcase as many strategies as possible. Only 28 educators participated in this and I will have over 100 students, so it won't be feasible to watch every video every week.
• Keep the videos under 5 minutes. (This one is a little over 6, but as a rule I try to keep them under 5, so I'd love to shorten it)
• Have students respond to this video on google classroom with one strategy that they didn't use but liked and explain why

Idea #2 (can be used w/ idea #1): Have students view at least 2 videos besides their own and leave a comment. On google classroom or in their journals, have students reflect on one strategy that was different from their own and why they liked it.

• This could be much more feasible for large classes and still requires students to seek out new strategies
• However, students might see less strategies this way, which is why I like the idea of using this in addition to the short summary video

I love that I can see who has commented on what videos by checking the thumbnails.

I learned a lot about Flipgrid by making this and I'm excited to use it more this year! If this gave you other ideas for how to use it, I'd love to hear them. I'd also love to hear any and all feedback.