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Where to find Two Truths and a Lie Material

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Two truths and one lie in math class has taken math class discussions and math arguments to a whole new level! Theyare the main event when it comes to math fights!

Watch the video post:

Not into watching the video? No problem, read the transcript below.

Maybe you were first introduced to the Two Truths & One Lie "game" like I was.I was at a small Professional development day in my district where we had to stand up and say three statements about ourselves. Two had to be true and one a lie. The audience had to guess which statement was the lie. Here were my three:

I am related to Bobby Orr

My first teaching job was on a small island in the Caribbean.

I have three children. Two of which are twins.

Can you guess which is the lie? It was kind of awkward, but fun at the same time. Now, can you imagine how this activity can be used in math class?

Here are 4 quick ways you can use Two Truths & One Lie in ANY math class.

1.Weekly Warm Ups

I start each day off with a math warm up from the Start A Math Fight resources. The type of warm up changes depending on day of the week, but what doesn't change is that they all are about starting discussion in my math class. TTOL is great for setting a low floor for the start of class. Here is what you can do: I show a picture like this one from. Mathebeforebed.com which already includes three statements. Students have to determine which are truths and which is the lie.

Can you determine which is the lie? Usually prompts like this start great math conversations in my class, but when those deeply rich discussions/arguments happen is when I give the image WITHOUT the statements and ask THEM to determine true statements and a lie. You'll be amazed at what those brains will come up with. Determine two true statements and one lie for this image.

One student may say "I see more than 9 squares" another might jump in to disagree and then boom, the first student will defend their thinking! An instant "share your thinking" moment. Structurally, students can either share their statements out loud for a full class discussion or you can have students record their statements on paper or in your favourite digital tool (Google Classroom, Peardeck are a few) that way you can ensure all voices can be heard.

2. A Gallery Walk

If you show, let's say an image without the three statements or math item (graph, number, equation, diagram) and have students make their own 2 truths and a lie they can display their statements around the room in a gallery walk. The class can now visit each as a station and decide which statements are true and which is the lie. Consider the option of having students create their own math item and also create statements to go with it. Now around the room you have a great number of math problems with statements to match and your students created every bit of it! Watch the discussions just naturally happen. Here are some pictures of my senior math students participating in the gallery walk.

3. Scavenger Hunt

Post around the room many images/prompts and have one statement on each; either a truth or a lie. Your students are to visit the prompts and determine which are truths and which are lies. To put more of mystery into it you can say "Find 5 truths and 5 lies" Have your students record them and use reasoning to say why each is true or false.

4. Guess Who

Play a round of the "Guess Who" game: two truths and one lie edition. A student will standup and say out loud two true statements and one lie about a "mystery number." The student will let the class know which are true and which is the lie. The class has to try to guess which "mystery number" they are thinking of. The class has to think critically about the characteristics revealed in order to determine the "mystery number" correctly. As an example, the student may think of a number. They say out loud: "One true statement is that my number is bigger than 10. Another is that my number is odd. The lie is my number is NOT a prime number. Can you guess my number?" Can you, dear reader guess the mystery number? Of course you can play with many topics other than numbers. Play with fractions, percent, decimals, 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional shapes, measurement concepts, equations and functions.

Choose your favourite activity to run TTOL in your math class or mix them up each week. Are you already using TTOL? Do you have a different way I can add to this list? Add it in the comments below, I'll edit the post with new editions.

Download the Two Truths & One Lie Quick Reference Guide to printout and keep handy or share it with other teachers you think will be interested. It comes with Share Your thinking Printouts for 4 different TTOL prompts.

Interested in reading more about Two Truths and a Lie? Read my post on how I used it with senior high school students and rational functions.

Get the Start a Math Fight Printout to start and fuel math discussions and "arguments" in your class.

Answer to the TTOL from above: I am NOT related to Bobby Orr!!!

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4 Ways To Use Two Truths & One Lie in ANY Math Class.

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Two truths and one lie in math class has taken math class discussions and math arguments to a whole new level! Theyare the main event when it comes to math fights! Watch the video post: Not into watching the video? No problem, read the transcript below.

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Courtesy of Jon Orr

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I had a goal to have my students write more in math class this year, without making writing such a big deal. When students hear that they are writing in math, their responses range from disbelief to outright indignation. "Why are we writing in math?! This isn't English."

So I try to sneak it in their when possible.

I did this activity with my students at the end of the year--really the last few weeks of school, after STAAR testing was over. I was pleasantly surprised how engaged they were and I am excited to try it again next year when summer isn't on everyone's mind.

In this activity, we start by playing Two Truths and a Lie-- the get to know you game. This can work at anytime of the year as students always like sharing things about themselves. I first share two truths and one lie about myself (this is how I announced my pregnancy to my students last year) so students know what to do. Then, I give each student a post-it and ask them to write Two truths and one lie about themselves then they share with their group and the other students guess what is the lie.

I spent about 10 minutes on this part. It gets students talking to each other and excited about class. This way when they go into the activity they are smiling and laughing instead of depressed that they have to writing.

Then I explain we are going to do Two Truths and a Lie-- The Math Version. Each group is given a sheet of paper with a graphic or word problem on it. There are 2-3 students per group, so I will have about 12 different papers distributed around the room. The group is then asked to write two truths and one lie about the graphic or word problem.

I did model this for my students before I passed out the papers. I asked them to dig deep and come up with something profound--not something like there are two dots on this graph. I was happy that some students voluntarily did computation as their truths and then wrote a sentence about it instead of just stating facts they could see without computation.

After all groups had their two truths and a lie written down, I gave each student 4 post-its and asked them to find the lies on 4 other papers. I asked them to write a sentence about why it was a lie instead of just stating "Number 2 is a lie."

In the process, students found that some papers had two lies or that there weren't any lies at all--either students didn't follow instructions, or they had made a mistake.

Here are some students papers after the activity.

This activity can be made easily-- you can take pictures of graphics in textbooks, worksheets, make your own graphics, etc. You can have the whole activity be centered around one concept, or a review of several concepts.

I have a FREE sample of what I used in my classroom--it is appropriate for grade levels 6-8.

Here is my first completed activity focused on one topic--Geometry. This has 21 pages of graphics that will prompt students to write about triangle properties, area of polygons, and volume of rectangular prisms. There are two versions--one with just the graphics and the other with two truths and a lie already written for students to choose from.

Here is the next completed activity focused on Statistics. This one is editable if you want to change out the truths and lies to focus on specific vocabulary or concepts.

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Two Truths and a Lie--Writing in Math Class

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I had a goal to have my students write more in math class this year, without making writing such a big deal. When students hear that they are writing in math, their responses range from disbelief to outright indignation. "Why are we writing in math?! This isn't English."

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Upper grade 2 Truths and a Lie

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I'm absolute junk in the kitchen but I'm trying to improve. I marvel at the folks who go off recipe, creating delicious dishes by sight and feel. That's not me right now. But I'm also not content simply to chop vegetables for somebody else.

I love the processes in the middle â€"Â like seasoning and sautÃ©ing. I can use that process in lots of different recipes, extending it in lots of different ways. It's the right level of technical challenge for me right now.

In the same way, I'm enamored lately of instructional routines. These routines are sized somewhere between the routine administrative work of taking attendance and the non-routine instructional work of facilitating an investigation or novel problem. Just like seasoning and sautÃ©ing, they're broadly useful techniques, so every minute I spend learning them is a minute very well spent.

For example, Estimation 180 is an instructional routine that helps students develop their number sense in the world. Contemplate then Calculate helps students understand the structure of a pattern before calculating its quantities. Which One Doesn't Belong helps students understand how to name and argue about the names of mathematical objects.

(Aside: it's been one of greatest professional pleasures of my life to watch so many of these routines begin and develop online, in our weirdo tweeting and blogging communities, before leaping to more mainstream practice.)

I first encountered the routine "Two Truths and a Lie" in college when new, nervous freshmen would share two truths about themselves and one lie, and other freshmen would try to guess the lie.

Marian Small and Amy Lin adapted that icebreaker into an instructional routine in their book More Good Questions. I heard about it from Jon Orr and yesterday we adapted that routine into our Challenge Creator technology at Desmos.

We invite each student to create their own object â€"Â a circle graph design in primary; a parabola in secondary.

We ask the student to write three statements about their object â€" two that are true, and one that is a lie. They describe why it's a lie.

Here are three interesting statements from David Petro's circle graph design. Which is the lie?

The shaded part is the same area as the non shaded part.

If these were pizzas, there is a way for three people to get the same amount when divided.

If you double the image you could make a total of 5 shaded circles.

And three from Sharee Herbert's interesting parabola. Which is the lie?

The axis of symmetry is y=-2.

The y-intercept is negative.

The roots are real.

Then we put that thinking in a box, tie a bow around it, and slide it into your class gallery.

The teacher encourages the students to use the rest of their time to check out their classmates' parabolas and circle graphs, separate lies from truth, and see if everybody agrees.

Our experience with Challenge Creator is that the class gets noisy, that students react to one another's challenges verbally, starting and settling mathematical arguments at will. It's beautiful.

So feel free to create a class and use these with your own students:

2018 Feb 6. I added eight more Two Truths & a Lie activities on suggestions from y'all!

BTW. Unfortunately, Challenge Creator doesn't have enough polish for us to release it publicly yet. But I'd be happy to make a few more TTL activities if y'all wanted to propose some in the comments.

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I'm absolute junk in the kitchen but I'm trying to improve. I marvel at the folks who go off recipe, creating delicious dishes by sight and feel. That's not me right now. But I'm also not content simply to chop vegetables for somebody else. I love the processes in the middle â€"Â like seasoning and sautÃ©ing.