188: "Let's Just See What They Can Do!"

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💭 What “Let’s Just See What They Can Do” Really Means

This phrase isn’t about tossing students into a problem they can’t handle. It’s about honoring the strategies, intuitions, and lived math experiences they already bring. You’ll hear how the Grapple step in Word Problem Workshop allows students to make sense of the story without the teacher rescuing, modeling, or pre-teaching every step.

In this episode, you’ll hear a vivid classroom moment where a teacher doubted her students could handle:
 “There are 27 puppies. Eighteen are big. How many are small?”

Even with large numbers and no regrouping lesson yet, students entered the problem with drawings, cubes, equations, and revising strategies. You’ll see how every learner — regardless of level — found a way to show their thinking when given space to explore.

🎧 Tune In and Try It Yourself

Ready to try this mindset shift in your next lesson?
 Listen to the full episode to hear how Word Problem Workshop helps students think deeply, reason flexibly, and approach big problems with confidence.

➡️ Listen now, subscribe, and leave a review to support the podcast and help more teachers bring sense-making into their math classrooms.