By: Margaret Schwan Smith, Victoria Bill, and Elizabeth K. Hughes
The article is about how to focus on TTLP (Thinking Through a Lesson Protocol), to provide cognitively challenging tasks. Meaning providing the students with opportunities to select the right path to the answer using past lessons. This provides challenges for the students and the teachers. The students must select the right path and for teachers there is less control. TTLP is divided into three parts: 1 Selecting and Setting Up Mathematical Task 2. Supporting Students' Exploration of the Task 3. Sharing and Discussing the Task. Each step builds off the previous one to provide a path for the students. This will help eliminate the loss of control for the teachers and possible sense of overwhelment the students might feel with all the options. TTLP is not meant to be used everyday for every lesson but periodically. The authors do mention though teachers can form their lesson plans to meet these steps more often than not. When developing a high level lesson teachers need to have clear goal, this helps provide framework as to what to expect from the students and lead them in giving you what you want to see they can accomplish. Teachers need to think of all the possibilities of solving the problem beforehand, this adds to having control of the lesson. Benefits of using TTLP would be getting a deeper meaning of the lesson. Teachers can ask "What if..." and draw on more ideas or changing the paths chosen. The format also helps teachers develop their lesson plans even if they aren't using the full format of TTLP.
I really liked the set up of TTLP. The three parts really set up to have a fulfilling lesson in my opinion. Providing the students with opportunities to use prior knowledge and various ways to answer the problem. I think it would make the students feel very accomplished coming up with a different way than another classmate. I do think it is important for the teachers to think of as many ways it can be solved as possible but also to think of the wrong ways students might think to solve it. This will help the teachers be prepared ahead of time for questions, bumps in the road, and concerns. At first I was overwhelmed thinking of always having to use this but the article said periodically. I do think the set up and questions you ask yourself as a teacher can always be used when making lesson plans. I love the discussion portion to provide students the opportunity to share how they solved the problem and hear the other ways. Students need to see there are multiple ways to do something.
Discussion Questions:
1. Is there a specific structure for performing Part 3 of TTLP? Should the teacher encourage student lead discussion or break the students into groups according to how they decided to solve the problem.
*I actually think if enough students did it a different way it would be interesting to put one of each in a group to teach the others and show the many options.
2. With the many paths to the right answer what should the teacher do when presented with an option they didn't think of? This stresses me out when thinking of the TTLP format.
The article is about how to focus on TTLP (Thinking Through a Lesson Protocol), to provide cognitively challenging tasks. Meaning providing the students with opportunities to select the right path to the answer using past lessons. This provides challenges for the students and the teachers. The students must select the right path and for teachers there is less control. TTLP is divided into three parts: 1 Selecting and Setting Up Mathematical Task 2. Supporting Students' Exploration of the Task 3. Sharing and Discussing the Task. Each step builds off the previous one to provide a path for the students. This will help eliminate the loss of control for the teachers and possible sense of overwhelment the students might feel with all the options. TTLP is not meant to be used everyday for every lesson but periodically. The authors do mention though teachers can form their lesson plans to meet these steps more often than not. When developing a high level lesson teachers need to have clear goal, this helps provide framework as to what to expect from the students and lead them in giving you what you want to see they can accomplish. Teachers need to think of all the possibilities of solving the problem beforehand, this adds to having control of the lesson. Benefits of using TTLP would be getting a deeper meaning of the lesson. Teachers can ask "What if..." and draw on more ideas or changing the paths chosen. The format also helps teachers develop their lesson plans even if they aren't using the full format of TTLP.
I really liked the set up of TTLP. The three parts really set up to have a fulfilling lesson in my opinion. Providing the students with opportunities to use prior knowledge and various ways to answer the problem. I think it would make the students feel very accomplished coming up with a different way than another classmate. I do think it is important for the teachers to think of as many ways it can be solved as possible but also to think of the wrong ways students might think to solve it. This will help the teachers be prepared ahead of time for questions, bumps in the road, and concerns. At first I was overwhelmed thinking of always having to use this but the article said periodically. I do think the set up and questions you ask yourself as a teacher can always be used when making lesson plans. I love the discussion portion to provide students the opportunity to share how they solved the problem and hear the other ways. Students need to see there are multiple ways to do something.
Discussion Questions:
1. Is there a specific structure for performing Part 3 of TTLP? Should the teacher encourage student lead discussion or break the students into groups according to how they decided to solve the problem.
*I actually think if enough students did it a different way it would be interesting to put one of each in a group to teach the others and show the many options.
2. With the many paths to the right answer what should the teacher do when presented with an option they didn't think of? This stresses me out when thinking of the TTLP format.
Thank you, Sarah:)
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