Burns vs. Burns
“Thanks, Jo, for your comment. It got me thinking and for that I’m appreciative.” says Marilyn Burns.
Yes, it truly got her thinking, and we all stand to benefit from Marilyn’s thinking in her recent blog post, When Should and Shouldn’t We Give Answers.
I thoroughly enjoyed this dialogue Marilyn Burns had with herself about revealing an answer to a commenter on her blog. It’s that struggle we can often face as educators. Her experience and wisdom will help any math teacher think through answer giving and productive struggle.
Here’s an excerpt from the conversation. Check out the rest on her blog!
“The conversation in my head went something like this:
— Hmm, in the classroom, I resist giving students answers. Should I do it here?
— Well, why not? She obviously really wants to know and why should I withhold information that I have?
— But, then again, I worry that giving the answer betrays my educational belief that productive struggle has value. And what I especially love about this problem is that you know that you’ve solved it when you can deal the cards the way I showed on the video. No answer book is needed.”
~by Andrew Stadel (@mr_stadel)
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(Almost) No rote required – teaching and understanding multiplication and division from doubling to completing the square! 
