Activity Protocols by Kelly Addington

Timed Pair Share

addington_kelly — 2024-02-29 03:20:56 UTC

Timed-Pair-Share can be used with pairs! This activity is great for explaining, synthesizing, and making connections!

Jot Thoughts

addington_kelly — 2024-02-29 04:04:50 UTC

Jot Thoughts is a quick activity that can be used in pairs or with small groups. This activity is great for brainstorming, sorting and classifying ideas!

Chalk Talk

addington_kelly — 2024-02-29 04:10:28 UTC

Chalk Talk is a protocol that can easily involve the whole class. You might use this activity when exploring ideas and topics more deeply. You might also use this activity for reflection.

Give One, Get One

addington_kelly — 2024-02-29 04:18:17 UTC

Participants can share ideas in small groups or as a whole class. This is great for exploring a topic in more detail.

Suzy Evans: Jigsaw

2024-03-14 17:17:01 UTC

This is one of my favorite cooperative routines because it hits so many best practices in instruction like chunking material, building agency, inspiring peer collaboration, and retrieval all at the same time!

Fan It Out

2024-04-14 22:05:30 UTC

Fan It Out is a cooperative learning structure that is used for brainstorming.

sarfaty_trisha — 2024-05-01 02:24:11 UTC

Choice Boards honor learner agency, allow for differentiation of information sources and give the learner to option to engage in content that feels most relevant to their needs!

4 Corners

2024-10-26 23:16:15 UTC

This protocol makes it so students physically move to a corner of the room based on their opinion or choice related to a given question.
Here are the Steps:
1. Present a question or prompt with four response options.
2. Each corner represents a response, and students move to the one that matches their view.
3. Students discuss their choice with others in the same corner and then share their insights with the whole group.
This is great for gauging student opinions, facilitating debate, and building listening skills. It can also be used for introducing or exploring new ideas.

Fishbowl

ivener_genell — 2024-11-12 21:56:38 UTC

Fishbowl is a great strategy to ensure that all students are given an opportunity to collaborate and discuss with one another.

This is also a great strategy to use on a topic that may have differing opinions so that students can hear multiple perspectives.

Save the Last Word

2024-11-25 23:42:24 UTC

I like this idea for a book study because it allows for learners to state their thinking about what they are reading and also getting to listen to the perspectives of others. Each session the groups can be mixed so everyone gets to experience all the different perspectives in the class.

Carousel Feedback

2024-11-29 18:38:21 UTC

This idea would work well for participants to get specific feedback on the activities they will create for their classrooms! Participants can provide helpful comments and ask questions that will help guide thinking.

Generate-Sort-Connect-Expand

2024-11-30 02:45:36 UTC

This is a great activity to allow participants to work together to generate ideas about a topic. They can then sort their ideas and make connections between them. This is great when having participants draw from previous learnings to bring the information to the forefront of their mind.

Blog by Catlin Tucker

schulte_karen — 2024-11-30 16:13:25 UTC

Clear protocols and routines are key to increase instructional time, and help our students become confident, independent and self-directed learners. One area I realize I haven't been clear is their tech routines. Making sure screens are down whenever instruction is happening. Self regulation is challenging for 2nd graders. Screen time is like a magnet. Another area was the exit activity - it will help my students to be more aware during class knowing they have to share something at the end of class. It will also provide me with some formative assessment.

Generate-Sort-Connect-Extend- Beth Lee

2024-12-07 04:34:26 UTC

I really think this strategy could be great with mixed groups of educators from across the cores. Bringing together different experiences to analyze an issue and come up with ideas that may be new to different disciplines. Especially connecting and finding those commonalities.

See, Think, Wonder (Core Thinking Routines) - Analise Schultz

2025-04-04 04:25:56 UTC

See, think, wonder is a routine that encourages students to make thoughtful observations and draw meaningful conclusions, sparking curiosity and setting the foundation for further exploration.

2025-04-04 04:26:43 UTC

Numbered Heads Together allows students to work cooperatively on a topic and collaborate their ideas. Choosing a different number for the spokesperson gives different students different opportunities to lead the group. This not only helps students communication skills but they are all held accountable to participate as their number may be called.

Color, Symbol, Image

wondercheck_candyce — 2025-11-27 23:11:50 UTC

Color, Symbol, Image can be used as an individual task, in pairs, in small groups, and as a whole group. It helps students show comprehension of reading, watching, or listening in a visual way. It can also be used as a reflection on previous learnings. The synthesis involves that students select a color, symbol, and image to represent three important ideas. This routine also facilitates the discussion of a text or event as students share their colors, symbols, and images with one another through the use of cooperative learning structures.

Does it Fit?

houghton_lori — 2025-11-29 18:14:21 UTC

Does it Fit can be used for professional development and for students to organize their notes and thoughts. In a professional development setting, this thinking routine from Project Zero provides a framework to help educators purposely choose a technique or activity to use to achieve a desired outcome. For students, a brain dump or other retrieval practice helps a student match a type of (math, for example) problem and problem-solving strategy. Paired with a Frayer model or card matching activity, the Does it Fit activity sets the foundation for students to identify key words, problem types, useful strategies, and key formulas.

I used to think... Now I think...

2026-05-17 15:24:27 UTC

I used to think.... Now I think... can be used whole group, in small groups, in pairs, or honestly, individually. This is great for reflecting on new learning and how that learning has changed or shifted initial thoughts, opinions, and/or beliefs.

Ideal, Real, and No Way

2026-05-24 20:57:08 UTC

I did some research outside of this course and found this protocol. I have a dear friend who used to run a business where she lead professional developments for all sorts of companies. This is a protocol that she recommended. (I had Gemini write up a better explanation than I had!):

Purpose: A collaborative, movement-based strategy to kickstart conversations, honor what teachers are actually doing in their classrooms, and assess prior knowledge without any judgment.

How it works:

Set the Stage: Hang three sheets of chart paper around the room labeled Ideal (the perfect, textbook scenario), Real (what actually happens in the trenches on a random Tuesday), and No Way (practices we should absolutely avoid).

Grab and Write: As you introduce a new topic, give everyone three sticky notes. Participants jot down one honest thought or practice for each category.

Post and Discuss: Participants stick their notes on the corresponding charts. Use the patterns and ideas on the wall to open up a transparent, peer-to-peer discussion about where everyone is starting from.

The Sticky Shift: Keep the charts up! Because learning is fluid, participants are encouraged to physically move their sticky notes to different charts throughout the session as their perspectives or ideas change.

Think, Write, Round Robin

2026-05-30 17:55:44 UTC

Teacher poses a question to students that may have multiple answers. Students are given time to individually think and write their response. Students within groups take turns responding orally.

Purposes
- Allows for students to first internalize and collect thoughts before sharing
- Promotes team building, social and communication skills
- Aids in knowledge building, processing info and procedure learning
- Encourages critical thinking skills