Facilitating is really hard.
We miss things. Perhaps is little misconceptions that we hear but don’t make it to our brain because we’re too busy taking roll and pointing out where to pick up missing work for the umpteenth time. We (ok, I) need to figure out a way to slow things down, so we can better listen, think, and respond appropriately. That’s incredibly challenging to do ad hoc.
Some of us, either through hard work and reps or a divine gift bestowed by R’hllor, have a knack for being able to do just that on the fly. The rest of us have a ways to go.
Also, it’s really difficult to ensure that all kids are speaking. Even in classrooms where the teacher knows better than to call on the quick hand-raisers, we do it anyway, because it keeps things moving. The use of protocols in a classroom can be a way to facilitate better and more equitably.
For one, they can give kids equal voice. Too, the give us time to process and develop a better response than an on-the-spot, seat-of-your-pants teaching moment.
Here are a four protocols I like to utilize in classrooms.
- The Know/Need-to-Know process. This was/is my go-to means of kicking off a problem. Students identify what they know about the problem and what they need to know (either content-instruction related or additional-info-needed related). I’ve blogged at length about this one, and others have made it even better.
(Editor’s note: if you have students with IEP, consider giving them this along with the task the day before so they can come in with pre-ideated Knows and Need-to-Knows.)
- Notice and Wonder. Max has written about this before on his blog and in his book (no, seriously, why haven’t you bought this yet?). This is great for data explorations and interesting visuals and diagrams. See also: See/Think/Wonder. Notice and wonder allows access for all students to describe what they’re seeing and generating authentic wonders.
- Gallery walks. Once students have solved a problem, they post them around the room and students circumnavigate to each solution for a prescribed period of time (say, 5 minutes). While observing solutions, students are asked to make comments and ask additional questions via post-it note or some other asynchronous medium. Be sure to require at least one comment and at least one question per student per gallery walk “exhibit.” We want everyone’s voices here.
- I like / I wonder / Next Steps. Another feedback protocol, the sentence starters are exceptionally helpful for students. Five minutes of “I like…”s, another five of “I wonder…”s, and five for “Next Steps” if there are things to potentially do after the feedback.
There are also a bunch of great protocols from, say, NSRF that can be used to facilitate discourse on non-content oriented stuff. I’ve used the final word protocol such that students can demystify, clarify, and expand upon a text. The block party protocol is great to do with students and adults when you want to get them talking about a text or selected parts of a text.
Just a couple quick tips upon using protocols:
- Stick to the protocol. You’re going to seem like an overbearing ogre at first, but among the chief value of protocols is giving equity to student voice. The moment the protocol is abandoned you are paving the way back in an inequitable discussion.
- Use a protocol iteratively. The power of protocols comes with repeated use. Once students have mastered the protocol itself, it’s incredible how rich the content-oriented discussions can become. I’d say use a particular protocol no less than three times a month.
A small while back a teacher described the use of protocols as “scaffolding for adults.” The context was in staff collaboration, but I think it works well for classroom instruction too. In an ideal world, kids would be quick to voice ideas and we’d be just as quick to answer them in a way that produces sense-making. Until then, we can use protocols to help us get there.
What are some of your favorite in-class protocols?
emergent math 