Below are protocols and activities you can use to engage students in practicing a concept. These can be used with a recorded video lesson, live lesson, or as a stand alone activity.
View or save a copy as a Google Doc: Protocols for Student Practice Using Technology
- Tip: Slides are easier to navigate and format as you can put one question/prompt, visuals, and student space to write per slide, or assign one slide per student. The slide deck is also more efficient to navigate with the sidebar.
- Tip: If using online instructional tools like Nearpod or Pear Deck, these protocols can be incorporated using program specific features.
Protocol: Admit & Exit Tickets
Purpose/Reason to Use
At the beginning or end of a learning experience, students write or verbalize an idea they learned, a question they have, a prediction about what will come next, or a thought about the lesson for the day. These quick writes can be used to assess students’ knowledge or to make decisions about next teaching steps or points that need clarifying. This reflection helps students to focus or solidifies learning.
Tech Tools
- Google Forms
- Quizzlet
- Google Docs/Slides
- Kahoot
Viritual Procedure
- Create 2-3 questions or prompts for students to provide responses about their learning (can be done before or after instruction)
Example of reflective exit ticket
Variation
Consider having students create their own admit or exit ticket prompt.
Protocol: Carousel
Purpose/Reason to Use
The purpose of using the Carousel protocol is to allow students to brainstorm about their prior knowledge, share their ideas, build a common vision or vocabulary, and/or demonstrate their knowledge or readiness around a variety of issues. It can then be revisited after students participated in learning activities to revise or strengthen their understanding.
Tech Tools
- Google Slides
- Google Docs
Viritual Procedure
- Identify several ideas or questions related to your topic/reading/image that you want students to consider, brainstorm or connect their learning to.
- Use this template to put your questions/images/topics on.
- At each slide, students should brainstorm responses or points they want to make about the question/picture/topic.
- Highlight common questions, key vocabulary or ideas that were noted by students on the slides.
- Have students complete a reading or watch a video about the topic that addresses the questions, further explains the pictures/graphs/charts, or connects to the topic.
- After the reading or video, have students go back to the slides to add any new learning, or clarify/expand on what they wrote previously. They should add on using a different color for their text.
- Have students use the information on the slides to create a summary of learning or to ask new questions.
Protocol: Chalk Talk
Purpose/Reason to Use
A chalk talk is a way to promote discussion and awareness of issues and perspectives—silently. A chalk talk is also an excellent way to promote awareness of patterns and problems and to ensure that all voices are heard.
Tech Tools
- Google Docs/ Slides/ Draw
Viritual Procedure
- Provide a prompt, task or question for consideration.
- Give students access to a template (sample draw template) for students to add their written thoughts. Allow space for multiple student responses.
- Encourage students to build off of each other’s thinking.
Protocol: Discussion Appointments
Purpose/Reason to Use
Discussion Appointments allow students to have conversations with various peers about a text, question, or concept. Multiple, short discussions allow students to expand and deepen their understanding. For this reason, Discussion Appointments is a particularly good protocol to use just before students begin to write.
Tech Tools
- Google Docs
- Video platform
Viritual Procedure
- Determine student groups of two or three, develop a shared google doc for the group, and share the document with directions. Sample.
- Provide students with a prompt for them to “discuss” with their partner or group. Students can discuss by writing back and forth in the document or an online chat.
- Collect their discussion templates to check for understanding.
Variation
Could be done through video messages instead of writing like with Flipgrid.
Protocol: Gallery Walk
Purpose/Reason to Use
This protocol offers students an opportunity to share information or learning with others. It can also be used to generate ideas.
Tech Tools
- Google Docs/Slides
Viritual Procedure
- Students post their work or teacher posts different topics/ ideas/artifacts for students to reflect on. Here is a sample template.
- Students are given a focus for their review (example: what is your biggest take away? what is the main idea? what did they do well? what can they improve on? what do you notice? what do you wonder?) and add their comments.
- Teacher and/or students review for understanding.
Protocol: Give One, Get One, Move One
Purpose/Reason to Use
This protocol serves two purposes: allowing students to reflect on the important ideas of the current learning, and letting students share those ideas with peers. Use it before the learning to help students brainstorm key ideas on a topic/reading to activate prior knowledge and build backgrou nd knowledge; use it after the learning to help students summarize and synthesize key concepts in the reading. You can structure it with movement or make it a silent, written experience. Observing the protocol carefully can also provide you with a formative assessment of what ideas “stuck” (or didn’t “stick”) with students during the learning.
Tech Tools
- Google Slide or Google Doc Template
- Flipgrid (verbal)
- Google Meet (verbal)
Virtual Procedure
In a virtual meeting (completed orally)
- Ask students to write down three to five key points of learning or important ideas about the topic of study. They can write on their own slide in a slide deck (template) or on paper.
- Invite 1 student to “give one idea to the group.” Students write or type this down in an empty box on their slide or paper.
- Call out “MOVE ON TO” and the next student shares.
- Repeat the sharing for as many ideas as students have to share.
- As students repeat their sharing, emphasize that they are to read all the previous ideas given to them before “giving” and “getting,” so the same ideas are not repeated over and over again. Only information new to the students should be shared.
Written Version
- Ask students to write down a key points of learning or important ideas about the topic of study. (template)
- Students should begin writing in an empty box on the slide.
- Once one box is filled in, the next person adds on another key idea or learning in the next box.
- Repeat the sharing for as many ideas as students have to share.
- As students repeat their sharing, emphasize that they are to read all the previous ideas given to them before “giving” and “getting,” so the same ideas are not repeated over and over again. Only information new to the students should be shared.
Protocol: Jigsaw
Purpose/Reason to Use
This protocol allows small groups to engage in an effective, time-efficient comprehension of a longer text. Having every participant read every page or section may not be necessary. Participants can divide up the text, become an expert in one section, hear oral summaries of the others, and still gain an understanding of the material.
Tech Tools
- LMS to create & assign groups
- Flipgrid
- Seesaw
- Shared Google slide deck or Doc
Viritual Procedure
- Provide different documents, portions of text or slides with text to students.
- Students provide a summary of their section/text to create one cohesive summary/explanation of a topic.
Variation
Use another type of graphic organizer that fits the content/purpose for students to complete in shared slide deck or present in a video platform.
Sample Digital Graphic Organizers from Ditch That Textbook
Protocol: Rank Talk Write
Purpose/Reason to Use
This protocol, adapted from “Pause, Star, Rank” in Himmele and Himmele’s Total Participation Techniques (2011), allows students to actively review their notes about new concepts as well as analyze and discuss the importance of key ideas they identify.
Tech Tools
- Shared google docs/slides
- Tools like Flipgrid, Meet & Seesaw allow students to have oral discussions
- Comment feature in slides or docs allows students to have written conversations.
Viritual Procedure
- During or after reading a text, students independently write a summary sentence for each key idea or concept they identify. (template)
- Students then rank the summary sentences in order of importance (“1” next to most important, “2” and “3” next to the second and third most important summaries of each concept.)
- Students share out the concepts they ranked to a group of students, explaining why they ranked each concept as they did in terms of importance (suggested platforms: a fligrid, meet, or audio on seesaw or in a written comment on the template)
- Each group determines which one concept they think is most important through a flipgrid or comment feature on the docs/slides that were shared)
- A scribe from the group writes the summary statement of the idea or concept on the summary slide (template)
- Small groups share their idea summary statement with the large group.
Variations:
- Provide the summary sentences to be ranked for the students.
- Provide the summary sentences to be ranked for the students, and include at least one that is inaccurate or off the mark as a formative assessment of how students respond to the erroneous information.
Protocol: Say Something
Purpose/Reason to Use
Say Something is a paired reading strategy developed by Egawa and Harste (2001) for constructing meaning from text-based information. Through structured exchanges, group members develop relationships between new information and what they already know or believe. This thinking out loud, supported by attentive listening, enhances individual and shared understandings. The time frame for this strategy is intentionally brief.
Tech Tools
- Flipgrid
- Seesaw
- Nearpod
- Google doc/hyperdoc
Viritual Procedure
- Give predetermined stopping points in a reading.
- Students can write what they would want to say or go to flipgrid to record what they want to say about that part.
- Student’s writing can be shared electronically through a google template or video for teacher to check for understanding.
Protocol: Take a stand
Purpose/Reason to Use
Participants articulate and reflect on their opinions about questions that have more than one answer or perspective.
Tech Tools
- Google doc/slide
- Online video platform (flipgrid, seesaw, nearpod)
Viritual Procedure
Text and questions need to allow for multiple perspectives in order for the protocol to be engaging.
- Students complete a reading or other activity to learn content.
- Students can take a stand to an idea or question posed in writing or video by providing their perspective and supporting it with evidence and reasons.
Protocol: Think-Pair- Share
Purpose/Reason to Use
This protocol ensures that all participants simultaneously engage with a text or topic. It allows participants to recognize, (commit to paper), and speak their own ideas before considering the ideas of others.
Tech Tools
- Google doc/slide
- Online video platform – assign partner A and who is partner B to respond
Viritual Procedure
- Ideas between paris can be shared in writing versus verbally using shared templates or documents.
- Heterogeneous or teacher to student partnering can occur
Protocol: Whiteboards
Purpose/Reason to Use
Students can complete a problem, answer a question, ask a question and share their thinking using a whiteboard. This can help keep students on task and engaged and can be used with limited preparation.
Tech Tools
- Shared google docs/slides
- Flipgrid, Meet & Seesaw
Viritual Procedure
- Hold up paper if online chat/quick video
- Have a google doc/slide where students respond with answer
- Use as a quick way to gather information about student learning
Protocol: Journaling/ Blogging
Purpose/Reason to Use
Have students keep a personal journal or create their own blog in response to academic or social emotional learning prompts.
Tech Tools
- Google doc/slide
- Online video platform (flipgrid, seesaw, nearpod)
Viritual Procedure
- Prompts can encourage student reflection, demonstrate student understanding or help students to process or share information.
- Social Emotional prompts can help students express their feelings or write creatively about their current experiences.
Protocol: I Used to Think … Now I Think
Purpose/Reason to Use
Have students engage in this routine as self-assessment and self-reflection of their learning. Using this routine allows students to consolidate learning, identify gaps or misunderstandings, and show their progress.
Tech Tools
- Google doc/slide
- Online video platform (flipgrid, seesaw, nearpod)
- Collaborate Boards (Nearpod, Padlet)
Viritual Procedure
- Explain to students that the purpose of this activity is to help them reflect on their thinking about the topic and to identify how their ideas have changed over time. For instance: When we began this study of (fill in the blank), you all had some initial ideas about it and what it was all about.
- In just a few sentences, I want to write what it is that you used to think about (fill in the blank). Take a minute to think back and then write down your response to “ I used to think…”
- Students can share responses with a partner, small group or whole group.
I Used to Think … Now I Think Template
Protocol: Clearer and Stronger Each Time
Purpose/Reason to Use
To provide a structured and interactive opportunity for students to revise and refine both their ideas and their verbal and written output (Zwiers, 2014). This routine provides a purpose for student conversation as well as fortifies output. The main idea is to have students think or write individually about a response, use a structured pairing strategy to have multiple opportunities to refine and clarify the response through conversation, and then finally revise their original written response. Throughout this process, students should be pressed for details, and encouraged to press each other for details. Subsequent drafts should show evidence of incorporating or addressing new ideas or language. They should also show evidence of refinement in precision, communication, expression, examples, and/or reasoning about mathematical concepts.
See Complete Clearer and Stronger Each Time Protocol
Tech Tools
- Google doc/slide
- Online video platform (flipgrid, seesaw, nearpod or breakout rooms in Zoom or Meet)
- Collaborate Boards (Nearpod, Padlet)
Viritual Procedure
- PRE-WRITE: Have students, individually, look at a problem and write down their idea/reasoning for solving the problem a certain way, or any thoughts or questions about it, in complete sentences if possible-use pen/paper or a google slide
- THINK TIME: Then give a minute for students to think about what they will say to the first partner to explain what they are doing, or did, to solve it. (They can’t look at what they wrote while talking).
- STRUCTURED PAIRING: Have students get into pairs. Remind students that oral clarity and explaining reasoning are important. Even if they have the right answer or they both agree, the goal is either (1) to be able to clearly explain it to others as a mathematician would or (2) for the other person to truly understand the speaker’s ideas.
- IN PAIRS: When one partner is listening, he or she can ask clarifying questions, especially related to justifying (Why did you do that?). The other person then also shares and the listener also asks clarifying questions to draw more language and ideas out of quiet partners, if needed.
- SWITCH: Partners switch one, two, or three more times, strengthening and clarifying their idea each time they talk to a new partner. Optionally, turns can emphasize strength (focus on math concepts and skills) or clarity (how to describe the math to others). Scaffolds can be removed with each successive pairing to build student independence.
- POST-WRITE: Have students write down their final explanations, in sentences (they can use drawings, too, explained by sentences or record their answers)
Protocol: Feedback Chat
Purpose/Reason to Use
A structured way for students to give and receive actionable feedback
See Link for Feedback Chat description and ideas
Tech Tools
- Google doc/slide
- Online video platform (flipgrid, seesaw, nearpod)
- Collaborate Boards (Nearpod, Padlet)
Viritual Procedure
- After students have completed a piece of work, they should think about what the goal is for the feedback they receive (on the template: What am I trying to achieve?)
- Partners will follow the prompts for Tell, Ask & Give and plan their feedback. (Work will need to be shared digitally or on video screen)
- Partners will meet and follow the prompts to have the feedback chat.
- Student presenting will independently think about the feedback and make a plan for how to act on it.
Protocol: Step In-Step Out-Step Back
Purpose/Reason to Use
This routine invites learners to think about a person or event through different perspectives by providing some prompts/guiding questions. This routine has students engage in ongoing reflection to see that thinking can change and grow through bringing in multiple perspectives.
Tech Tools
- Google doc/slide
- Online video platform (flipgrid, seesaw, nearpod)
- Collaborate Boards (Nearpod, Padlet)
Viritual Procedure
- Student can independently or in pairs to engage in the thinking:
Choose: Identify a person or agent in the situation you are examining.
Step In: Given what you see and know at this time, what do you think this person might feel, believe, know, or experience? Record your responses.
Step out: What else would you like or need to learn to understand this person’s perspective better? Record your responses.
Step back: Given your exploration of this perspective so far, what do you notice about your own perspective and what it takes to take somebody else’s? - Have students meet in pairs or groups of pairs/small groups to review their responses for “Step In, Step Out, and Step Back” – combining and consolidating information
Protocol: Numbered Heads Together
Purpose/Reason to Use
This is a collaborative learning strategy that create group and individual accountability for students by promoting discussions, collaboration and problem solving.
Read more about Numbered Heads Together here
Tech Tools
- Google doc/slide
- Online video platform (flipgrid, seesaw, nearpod)
- Collaborate Boards (Nearpod, Padlet)
Viritual Procedure
- Divide students into groups of four and give each on a number from 1 to 4
- Pose a question or problem to the class
- Have students gather in breakout rooms and/or on a collaborative doc to come up with an answer. The group needs to make sure everyone in their groups understands and can give an answer.
- The teacher asks the question and calls out a number 1-4 randomly.
- The students with that number raise their hands, and when called on, answers for their team.
Protocol: Does it Fit
Purpose/Reason to Use
This routine helps students make decisions by looking at various options and evaluating those options
Tech Tools
- Google doc/slide
- Online video platform (flipgrid, seesaw, nearpod)
- Collaborate Boards (Nearpod, Padlet)
Viritual Procedure
Individually or in Pairs:
- Fit your options to the Ideal Identify what the Ideal situation would look like and then evaluate each option against it. Ask yourself: How well does each option fit with the ideal situation?
- Fit your options to the Criteria Identify the criteria or attributes that feel important for you to consider in this situation and then evaluate each option against those. Ask yourself: How well does each option fit the criteria?
- Fit your options to the Situation Identify the realities and constraints of your situation, such as resources and time, and then evaluate each option against them. Ask yourself: How well does each option fit the realities of the situation?
- Fit your options to you Personally Try out each option by running a “mental movie” in which you imagine yourself carrying out the option and try to get a sense of what it would feel like. Ask yourself: Which option feels like the best fit for me?
Have individuals or pairs share out to receive feedback on the “fit” or rational of the decision.
Protocol: Decide and Defend
Purpose/Reason to Use
Students try to make sense of another student’s line of reasoning, decide if they agree and then draft an argument to defend their decision by looking at a worked math problem.
- Original Decide and Defend Routine
- Useful Talk Moves for Students
- Planning Considerations for Teachers
Tech Tools
- Collaborate Boards (Nearpod, Padlet)
- Collaborative Google doc/slide
Viritual Procedure
- Interpret Work: Students view a worked problem to understand – What did they do, What did they find?
- Decide- is the work correct? does the answer/process make sense? are the calculations correct?
- Defend-students prepare to defend the work or be a skeptic of the work
Students can complete these steps through a think-pair-share process.
Protocol: Claim, Evidence, Question
Purpose/Reason to Use
This routine reveals and encourages the process of reasoning by asking students to formulate an interpretation of something and support it with evidence. By pushing students to ask questions about their interpretation, it helps students see that reasoning is an ongoing process that is as valuable for raising questions as it is for providing answers
Original Claim, Evidence, Question Routine
Tech Tools
- Collaborate Boards (Nearpod, Padlet)
- Collaborative Google doc/slide
Viritual Procedure
- Provide students with an issue, topic, text, podcast, video
- Students individually write a clear claim, evidence to support the claim with evidence, andthen ask a question.
- Students share in small groups/partners