Recently I had Dr. Cory Bennett share with us about Reasoning Talks (Number Talks that focus on Reasoning) and how to use them in the Middle School classroom. So many of your responded asking for more information and I am finally here to share that with you.
Some of the highlights I took from Cory’s session at NCTM Annual in San Antonio are that:
- When developing a reasoning talk we must switch from just computational and help our students develop reasoning skills when processing through the problem.
- We don’t always want an answer right away. Most of the time with reasoning talks we truly want students to create a conversation about the methods for solving and WHY they think that.
Developing Reasoning Talks
When we as the facilitator of these reasoning talks sit down to plan them out ahead of time (critical step to do) we must ask ourselves, “How am I going to make connections to what my students are already bringing to the table?”
Understanding the prior knowledge of our students will help us create better, and more engaging, reasoning talks with quality probing and clarifying questions. Think ahead to what answer you are wanting from your students and work backwards to determine the question that you need to ask to get that answer.
Using the template that Dr. Bennett has created for us, these guidelines that I have added (see photo) are to help you in your creation.
Examples of Reasoning Talks
As further example for developing reasoning talks in your classroom, I have developed three different examples for you. The first of which is aligned to standards for solving real world problems that involve multiplying fractions by a whole number.
The second example that I have created for you involve solving real world problems that involves using variables to write equations and then solve them based on given information.
And then the final example that I want to show you involves determining area and then finding fractional portions of that area and what is remaining- talk about MULTI-STEP problem!
And with that I hope that these examples can help you implement Reasoning Talks in your classroom. Remember, building communication about what they are learning is one of the goals as that helps them to explain their thinking behind their math. Spend some time this summer to think about how that you can implement these into your classroom for the coming year and if you have any questions, feel free to ask because I’m here and will listen!
Reasoning talks can look different and can have different outcomes. For example, a teacher might want students to recognize what is important about a problem/context. Do students understand what matters and how it matters? Or, students might be asked to make meaning of a symbolic representation. When examining a proportion, what do the two ratios mean independently and in relation to each other? Additionally, students might be asked to make connections between relationships. An example of this might include analyzing what is the same or different between a linear and non-linear function who have the same (or different) coefficients and y-intercepts. Other Reasoning Talks might focus on generating a possible solution pathway, developing questions, or developing a conjecture or considering a counter argument.
Just as with number talks, Reasoning Talks aim to help students learn to communicate ideas and attend to critical aspects of the mathematics they are learning. This means one of the more critical roles of the teacher is keeping track of ideas in a central place (like on the white board), helping students attend to the key aspects of their thinking (they are not always aware of the importance of their ideas), and helping them make connections between their ideas and the ideas of others. In your practice, remember to attend to these three things and perhaps even add notes to yourself on the planning template to help you keep this focus. Otherwise, you may end up completing a Reasoning Talk and feel unsure your outcomes were accomplished.
Here I am now almost a month after 
As soon as I arrived on Wednesday afternoon I checked into the hotel and then went on over and got my conference badge holder and the program book for all the sessions. Great thing about the book was while it was great to have it all there in printed form (they also had tabs to separate the days), but NCTM also had an app to download where all of the sessions were updated as much as possible (and shared resources via the app). I lived on that app for those three days!
After I had done the shopping, I took a trip on down to the Riverwalk for some dinner. As a true Texan we have a long-standing family tradition to eat at the SAME Mexican Restaurant every time we are down so I kept that going on this trip. Some good Chicken Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce were on the plate for me and then when I went back down later that night with some other mathematics specialists/bloggers I enjoyed their Guacamole Dip.
to get started because I knew that the first session I wanted to go to would be PACKED. I rushed on over to Number Talks in Middle Grades given by 
aren’t always easy to do in middle grades and then how to develop a Reasoning Talk in our classrooms. Guys, it’s all about the reasoning! I definitely plan to blog more about this process that Cory used as I can see it as so beneficial and it is much more than just computational talks that we have seen.
another familiar face over that 
While I was there I got to see Reagan of 
I love using the Tri-Fold Mini Book Template to create flowing lessons that build upon each other or diagrams with room to identify things.
the flaps allows the students to keep definitions for each of the terms that are involved in this flippable. I love that we can also color-coordinate them with the title words and areas in the diagram.
refreshed and ready to hit the ground running? You know you will need it because we all know that the Spring Semester is a countdown to state testing right?!?