Let's Talk About TALK!

Let’s Talk About TALK!
If your students are anything like mine, they LOVE to talk!  So how come when you ask them to talk about math, there’s a chorus of crickets chirping from the corner of your room?  Let’s chat about how to channel students’ natural inclinations to talk into discussing math!
Our Eureka Math TE’s have built-in opportunities for student talk, and utilizing these are a great start.  There are of course the Teacher and Student parts in the Concept Development part of the lessons that may be used if you’re stuck with what to say or how to explain.  However, I find that my students often times don’t say what the book wants them to say, which can be confusing- how long do I wait for them to come up with what the book says they will?  Do I keep prompting?  Am I doing the thinking and talking now instead of the students?    I find that the Debrief at the end can be a rich resource for student discussion!  When I’m planning  for the debrief, I use the ones in the TE as backup.  Instead, while the students are working on the Practice Set, I’m walking the room.  I’m looking at students’ work and talking with them.  What misconceptions am I seeing and hearing? THIS is what I bring up as a debrief topic.  If nothing interesting pops up in my spin around the room, the questions listed in the debrief section of the TE are there for me to pull from.  I pick the one I think will make for the most interesting discussion, not all of them.
	So you’ve got your questions and debrief topic all picked out, and they’re good.  Like, you almost have your fingers crossed for a walk-through because someone NEEDS to witness the magic that is going to happen, good.  You present your carefully selected questions and get…nothing.  Or maybe you get something from that one kid who loves to respond to any questions you ask.  What about the bulk of your learners?  How do you engage them?  How do you get an answer beyond “I just know”? Well, you pull out one word, the oh so powerful- “Why?”  Don’t let them stop with an answer that just involves arithmetic.  The Standards for Mathematical Practices require students to be able to explain their reasoning and make sense of what they are doing with WHY they are doing it.  Keep pressing to get students to explain the why.
In talking about math, “...Students start to believe in themselves mathematically.  They become more willing to persevere when solving complex problems.  They become more confident when they realize that they have ideas worth listening to.”  -Cathy Humphries & Ruth Parker from Making Number Talks Matter, 2015
There’s another place in your Eureka math lesson you can go to in order to spark student math talk.  It’s not where you’d think to look, requires more thought and effort, but it’s worth its weight in gold!
	How?  Let’s flip the script!  Most times, the Application Problem in your Eureka lesson is meant to set the stage for your lesson by reviewing a concept needed in that day’s lesson.  What if, say, once a week you replaced it with a student discussion?  Use a question from the Exit Ticket you gave the day before, or you could also use the suggested application problem.  Present the problem and have students share their entry points and solution strategies.  By sharing out their thoughts on the problem, the idea that there are multiple solution strategies is reinforced, and student thinking is validated.  All in 10 minutes or less!  What have you got to lose? Whew!  I know this is a lot to think about!  Chew on it, try it out in your classrooms, keep asking questions and digging deeper.  Come back next time where we will be talking about how Mental Math prompts discussion, taking your class to the next level!   Mathematically yours, Sabrina Blake