Red Light, Yellow Light
Flag what stops you (red) and what gives you pause (yellow).
Reasoning with evidenceUncovering complexityWondering & questioning
What is Red Light, Yellow Light?
Critical-reading routine. Surfaces doubts about truth or accuracy.
Setup: Provide the material.
The prompts
- 1RED lights · claims that stop you in your tracksWhat seems untrue or inaccurate?
- 2YELLOW lights · claims that give you pauseWhat needs more checking?
Good moments for Red Light, Yellow Light
- Classroom warm-upSurface what students bring before introducing new content.
- After a reading or videoConsolidate big ideas without testing recall.
- Discussion starterResponses become the seed material for the room conversation.
- End-of-session reflectionCapture how thinking changed.
About Visible Thinking
Visible Thinking Routines were developed by Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (Ron Ritchhart, David Perkins). They are short structured protocols for surfacing thinking, not assessments.
Project Zero website