Math talk

Students are learning how to talk to their partner about their thinking.  Partners are learning to listen, think about what they are learning and seeing and respond with a statement that agrees with the thinking or disagrees with the thinking.  They could ask a clarifying question to better understand their partner's thinking or even to challenge their partner's thinking.  Every person in our classroom has a job at every point of their day.  What does it look like to be a listener and what are you doing when you are listening?  Why do we listen?  If you are the person sharing, you are explaining your thinking, using complete sentences to give your partner a clear idea of what you are talking about and responding to your partners statements or questions.  Partners get to play both roles several times throughout the day.