The (DOC) Thinking Through a Lesson Plan Protocol (TTLP) is used to guide teachers to think deeply about a specific lesson that will be taught. The goal is to move beyond a basic lesson plan to a deeper consideration of how to advance students’ mathematical understanding during the lesson.
Part 1 of the TTLP lays the groundwork for planning before the implementation of the rich math tasks in the classroom. First, identify the learning targets of the lesson. Then, select a (PDF) high cognitive demand math task aligned to the learning targets from the district’s textbook resource. Next, determine how to launch the task to help students make sense of problem. For example, determine how to activate prior knowledge, make sense of the task and decide which instructional tools will be made available to the students.
Part 2 of the TTLP helps monitor students as they engage in the task during the Explore Phase. Prior to implementing the math task, anticipate strategies and misconceptions students may encounter while solving the task. Based on anticipated strategies, formulate questions ahead of time to clarify and assess student thinking. The rest of the (DOC) monitoring tool can be completed during the Explore Phase while monitoring and recording the names of students using the anticipated strategies. The monitoring tool will help in selecting and sequencing the students who will share their thinking in the Summarize Phase.
Part 3 of the TTLP focuses on how to orchestrate a whole-group discussion of the task. This discussion uses the different solution strategies produced by students to highlight the mathematical ideas that are the focus of the lesson. Strategically plan the order in which solutions are presented to help develop students’ understanding of the mathematical ideas. In addition, develop questions to ask to make connections between students’ strategies. Read (PDF) Thinking Through a Lesson Protocol: Successfully Implementing High-Level Tasks to dig deeper.