Eureka: Expressions and Equations!

This past week my 7th graders were introduced to the concept of Expressions.  The activity involves inquiry and therefore, the students were not given any instructions other than to place terms that they thought went together.  They needed to write down their answers in their math interactive notebooks.  They were timed and asked to move to another group four times.  After the activity, I asked students to tell me what terms went together and why.  The conversations we had were very powerful and provided insight as to how they understood combining like terms.  Check out the short 50  second clip and listen to the questions that I pose.  Remember that students have not had previous instruction for this skill.

      

I designed this warm up activity after watching another Spotlight teacher do her warm ups in a similar fashion.  I modified mine for a middle school setting by restricting the number of problems and limiting the time to 1 minute per problem.  A few things happened as a result of this strategy.  One, students walk around the room while they discuss math.  Two, they have an opportunity to discover math skills before actual delivery of instruction takes place.  It is important for me to listen to where students are in terms of the concepts or skills, so I can guide my instruction.  When students are given an opportunity to discuss the mathematics, they are developing ideas and making sense of problems.  This builds confidence in working with mathematics and gets them ready to receive new knowledge.
	It is my goal for this blog to give you resources for the talk moves that I use regularly with my students.  Here is a video resource for you to watch if you are inclined to do so.   https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-ells-to-participate-in-discussions-ousd
During this short clip you hear Melody state her reasoning for placing certain terms together.  I had to ask more questions to push her to consider other options in doing the activity.  As the year continues, I notice Melody getting more frustrated with the math.  She has also started dance in the after school program and refuses to stay for tutoring.  I’m disappointed but will not give up on her.
	Feel free to send me your comments after you have read and seen the video.  I welcome all constructive criticism.  Have a fantastic rest of your day! Hilda Castillo
Click here to schedule a visit	Hilda.Castillo@omsd.net