Speaker 1: The routine “And the Answer is” encourages students to think about what type of answer a task will have before solving it. Here’s how you do it:

Before students solve a task, have students describe the solution in terms of its formation and unit.

The format of an answer might be a numerical expression, algebraic expression, an equation, ordered pair, graph, or another mathematical object.

The answer’s unit may be a standard measure, such as meters, inches, cubic feet, or something related to the problem context, such as apples or puppies. Or there may be no specified unit.

Remember, students are sharing their thoughts before solving the problem. You should treat students’ initial thinking as conjectures and encourage them to revisit their thinking after they solve the task.

If you often have students start by looking carefully at a problem, such as with a three-reads strategy, the anticipation of the type of solution adds a nice forward-looking aspect as well.

Now go ahead and give “And the Answer is” a try!