Why Am I Talking? I think about this question constantly as I am creating a lesson or activity and bounces around my brain while in the middle of a lecture. What can I do to get my students talking? What questions can I pose in the middle of the lesson that will get them processing new ideas and connecting them to previous ones? Getting my students to talk in class is a two step process. First, I need to help them build relationships with their classmates and with me. If they feel comfortable in class, they are more likely to jump into the tougher math questions. So to start building that report, I start every class with them asking their partners, "Hi, how's it going? How has your day been so far?" We do this every day. Some days I have them ask their partners random questions: What toppings do you like on your pizza? What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Does sky diving sound like fun to you? Usually by the 2nd week they are saying "What's up?" to t...