Reflection Protocols

Reflecting on reflection ...

What would a reflection protocol look like for teachers? Assuming it's an independent activity, here are a few ideas.


Timeframe: today's class
Goal: General reflection
1. What surprised you about today's class? List 1 or more things that stand out in your memory.

Then, go about and pick one thing to focus on for the rest of this reflection.
2. What did the event reveal to you or remind you about your students?

3. What did the event reveal to you or remind you about your own priorities and values?

4. What will you do differently tomorrow or next week because of this event?




Timeframe: Math Class Unit (To be done towards the end of the unit, but before any summative assessments)
Goal: Developing Growth Mindset, encouraging sense-making

1. What is a concept that many of your students still struggle with at the end of the unit?

2. What fundamental misunderstandings do they have that might get in the way of developing this concept?

3. What experiences might help break through those misunderstandings?

4. Is there a different way to teach this concept that you haven't tried? A different perspective or application?




Timeframe: before tomorrow's lesson
Goal: preparing
1. What concepts will students need before they do this lesson?

2. What do you expect them to get wrong, and what non-standard ways might they find to answer the problem?

3. How will you go about encouraging sense-making or risk-taking or developing your classroom community during this lesson?

Then, after the lesson:
4. What worked and didn't work from your answer above?

Games and Puzzles

Which fraction activity would you rather do? 

Who Am I? 

I am a fraction in reduced form. 

My denominator is 3 more than my numerator. 

My value is more than 0.5 and less than 0.7. 

My numerator is prime. 

Who am I? 

The Dice Game

Roll two dice. If you get doubles, roll again until you don't have doubles. Make a fraction with the smaller number over the larger. Then, your partner rolls the dice and makes a fraction with the two numbers the same way. The person with the larger fraction gets a point. 

I think a lot of people would go for the Dice Game over Who Am I?. Personally, I don't like how the Dice Game depends completely on chance. I prefer games that give me a chance to figure out how to win. But that's my view as an adult - I see a lot of kids get very excited by the roll of the dice! For all the teachers out there, which do you prefer? What about your students? 

I'm thinking about this question because of two students in my class last year. Neither was particularly motived most of the time, even though both were excellent mathematicians. But when I came up with some fun activity to do, I could usually grab the attention of at least one of them. Nope - scratch that. I could grab the attention of exactly one of them. 

One of them loved the dice game. He would come up with all sorts of creative (and correct) ways to explain to his partner why one of those fractions was larger, and did not want to stop playing. 

The other kid had no interest in the Dice Game. But let him loose on a "Who Am I?" puzzle, and he was working frantically away at it. He came up to ask me if his answer was correct, and then he was willing to walk me through a detailed explanation of his reasoning. 

It took me a long time to realize why I could not get both of them interested in the same activity, but it finally occurred to me. One of them loved games. The other loved puzzles. What's the difference -- what kind of kid likes one or the other? I don't have a handle on that yet. I'm just glad I used some of each this year, so both of those two students had a chance to feel like they were in their element once in a while.