One Stray Group Activity for Geometric Proof

During our Geometry PLC meeting on Thursday, one of the group members was discussing an activity called One Stray that he had learned at a conference the week before. I remember learning about this activity during Kagan trainings I went to in February and June. So, I went to my Kagan book and looked up the strategy, and sure enough, I had learned about this.

We had discussed doing this for practice for Geometric Proof, and I thought I would give it a try. We used a Proof Practice assignment that I got from the amazing Elissa Miller. (If you haven't checked out her blog/resources, do so when you are finished here). I gave three minutes to work on the proofs, then stray and form new groups. After new groups were formed, I gave one minute to discuss the previous proof with the new groups before assiging the next proof. We are on 49 minute periods, so I was able to get through 5 proofs in one class and 6 in the other.

Here are the directions that I used for the activity. I took the majority of these from Kagan.

• Be sure you are in groups of 4.
• Each group will be given a mat. This mat will determine your number.
• All members of the group will take 3 minutes to collectively work on Proof #1 
• When I call time, we are going to do One Stray

 Directions for One Stray

1. I will randomly call a number and call "STRAY"
2. The student who has the number I call will stand up. The remaining teammates remain seated but raise their hands
3. Standing students stray to a team that has their hands up
4. Teams lower their hands when a new team member joins them.
5. Students work in new teams to gather and share information. 

I used the Google Random Number Generator for group numbers to rotate. I used my Kagan Mats that I made to determine group numbers.  If you would like a copy of my Kagan Mat, please email me I also used the Google timer tool to manage the time. I also had the students complete their work in OneNote, which we use as our notebook. Also, I had students swap computers and check each other's work and highlight errors and circle unmarked diagrams (which I have been trying to reinforce consistently).

Overall, I think that the activity was successful! I think the kids learned and benefitted from it, especially since geometric proof can be very tricky.