Active Participation Strategies: Action Responses and Discussions Content provided by Explicit Instruction- Dr. Anita Archer– Edited and summarized by Leah Jefferson.

Elicit frequent responses Preview of Procedures Verbal Response Procedures Inclusive Passage Reading Choral Silent Partners Choral Teams/Huddle Groups Cloze Individual Discussion Partner Written Response Procedures Literacy Circles Types of writing tasks Whiteboards (Tablets, Virtual Whiteboards) Action Response Procedures Acting out/Simulations Gestures Facial Expressions Hand Signals Response Cards (Clickers, Plickers)

Action Responses Touching/Pointing Teachers of primary students and struggling students should constantly ask their students to touch specific items during instruction. “Put your finger on the word,” “Put your finger on the picture,” “Put your finger on the heading.” This response is designed to bring students’ attention to the stimulus and to allow the teacher to monitor students to see whether they are at the right place in the text. With struggling students, teachers may also wish to direct partners to verify that their partners are in the right place. “Make sure you are on page 175, touching Figure 4.5.” “Now check your partner.” Acting out– it makes the concepts easier to remember. Orchestrated “acting out.” You incorporate it into the lesson to make it more memorable and interesting. Examples K- Have student become major characters from the book and act out story events. HS English- Ask partners to act out vocabulary terms to enhance their memory of terms. MS-HS Science- When students are learning the differences among solids, liquids, and gases, you can have students stand close together with no movement to demonstrate a solid; stand slightly separated with slight movement to illustrate a liquid; and disperse around the room to illustrate a gas.

Action Responses Gestures Students indicate answers with gestures Example: Adding gestures when teaching narrative paragraphs. Composite volcanoes– students form the base of the volcano with their hands and show the steep sides as they bring their hands to a peak. “Add a paragraph when there is a change in the speaker, setting, situation, or time.” Have a gesture for speaker, setting, situation, and time. Students can signal which type of operation to perform by forming a +, -, x signs with their arms/hands.

Provide Systematic Instruction for the learning of…. Explicit Instruction of Facts/Information Attend– point to audience Intend- pat forehead Rehearse- hand crushing from right to left at eye level Retrieve- both hands from the back of the head and reaching over top of head into the front

Resource Links: Hand Gestures and Math video https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-math-hand-gestures Whole Brain Teaching High School Math Mike Brown of Tennessee uses a masterful, low key approach while leading his high school students through a sequence of trigonometry lessons. Note the variety of Whole Brain Teaching strategies  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26xQHAASMSU Whole Brain Teaching: High School Math   Watch Kristin DeWit, veteran Whole Brain Teacher, guide her class through a lively algebra lesson. To download hundreds of pages of free materials, go to WholeBrainTeaching.com. For more information  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6WJdsb0dfM Whole Brain Teaching: The Basics  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF1DCD38BF8902185   Whole Brain Teaching (Power Teaching) Lesson 1 Got challenging students? Over 8,000 teachers have attended Whole Brain Teaching (Power Teaching) conferences. Learn how to start Whole Brain Teaching tomorrow! Hundreds of pages of free downloads  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1kxpBPtqyI Whole Brain Teaching (Power Teaching) Lesson 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lHL78quPag

Action Responses Facial expressions Students indicate answer with facial expression Example: “Show me despondent.” “Show me not despondent.” “Show me furious.” “Show me not furious.” All that is required is a little creativity to add to the richness of the lesson with gestures and/or facial expression.

Action Responses Hand signals Students indicate answer by holding up fingers to match numbered answer. Example 1. Legislative Students put up the number of fingers that correspond with 2. Executive the answer at stomach or on desk. 3. Judicial Students can indicate “Yes” with thumbs up and “No” with thumbs down and a sideways thumb for “I don’t know/Unsure” at stomach or on desk. Level of understanding – Fist to Five Students display fist (no understanding) to five (clear understanding) fingers

Action Responses Hand Signals Process Example: 1. intention 1. Display numbered items on the screen Example: 1. intention 2. reluctant 3. swift 2. Carefully introduce and model hand signals 3. Ask a question 4. Have students form answer (e.g., 3 fingers to indicate item #3) on their desks 5. When adequate thinking time has been given, have students hold up hand. “Everyone”

Resource and Article links: Using Hand Signals http://nelearn.myelearning.org/mod/page/view.php?id=414 Whole Brain Teaching (review) http://ashleytipton.weebly.com/whole-brain-teaching.html The Science of Gestures Http://www.parentingscience.com/gestures.html 6 Hand Signals that bring learning to life https://www.edutopia.org/blog/hand-signals-bring-learning-to-life-ellie-cowen

Action Responses Response cards Punctuation Marks: . ? ! , Use these when students have a limited field of answers to select from. Many quick responses can be requested until students have a firm grasp of the concepts of information. Have students write possible responses on cards or paper or provide prepared cards Examples– (possibly create response card rings for tables/desk) Simple responses: Yes, No; True - False; a.b.c.d., I.2.3.4 Punctuation Marks: . ? ! , Parts of Speech: Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb Mathematical Operation: Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide Content specific answers Process: Ask a question (Emphasize think time) Have students select best response card (Then signal for all to respond) Ask students to hold up response card Monitor responses and provide feedback Note: Utilize a Response Sheet. Label sides: True, False; 1 2 3 4; yes no; agree disagree Note: You could also use clickers or plickers.

Written and Action Responses Benefits Promote rehearsal of information Check for Understanding Allows teacher to determine if any necessary adjustments need to be made to the current lesson. In the end, which of these active participation procedures you select is less important than OFFERING a large number of opportunities to respond and keeping ALL students involved To truly be effective, instruction MUST be interactive. This constant involvement not only improves learning, but also reduces management problems and makes instruction more enjoyable for both students and teacher.

Discussions How to optimize participation in discussions Provide a well-designed question or prompt to direct the discussion. Establish rules of conduct for a discussion. Have students plan their responses to the prompt before the discussion.

Discussions Have students share their ideas with their partners before the discussion. Scaffold the discussion with sentence starters. Discuss in groups of four to six members. One person shares their answer. Others respond with agree or disagree OR Others ask clarifying questions

Create Better Questions (Embed Formative Assessment by Dylan William) Original Reframed Is carbon a metal? Why is carbon not a metal? Is this a sentence or a clause? Why is this a clause rather than a sentence? Is slate a metamorphic rock? Why is slate a metamorphic rock? Is 23 prime? Why is 23 prime? Reframed using comparisons What is a prime number? Why is 17 prime and 15 not? What was life under apartheid like? How were lives of blacks and whites different under apartheid? Is a bat a mammal? Why is a bat a mammal and penguin not?

Create Better Questions (Embed Formative Assessment by Dylan William) Original Reframed as Statement (Agree/Disagree/Why) Are all squares rectangles? All squares are rectangles. Do the Senate and the House of Representatives have the same powers? The Senate and the House of Representatives have the same powers. Is plywood a natural resource? Plywood is a natural resource. Was Andrew Jackson the president for the common man? Andrew Jackson was the president for the common man.

Discussion sentence starters Agreeing I agree with ____________ because _____________. I agree with ___________ and I also think _________. Disagreeing I disagree with ________ because ____________. I disagree with ________. I think ______________.

Discussion sentence starters Adapted from presentation by Kate Kinsella, Ph.D. Agreeing My idea is similar to __________ idea. I think____________. My ideas expand on _________ idea. I think ____________. I agree with ___________ and want to add_______________. Disagreeing I don’t agree with __________ because ________________. I have a different perspective from _______. I think________. My views are different from ____________. I believe______.

Discussion sentence starters Adapted from presentation by Kate Kinsella, Ph.D. Clarifying Will you please explain _________________________. What did you mean when you stated ______________. Could you please clarify your idea for me. Paraphrasing What I hear you saying is ________________________. So you believe ________________________________.

Explicit Instruction Element #12 Monitor Student Responses Choral Responses Listen to all Hone in on responses of lower performing students Partner and Discussion Responses Circulate Look at responses Listen to responses (Make notes with student names of good answers and give affirmation and stagger correct answers of your choosing) Individual Responses Listen carefully Response Slates Response Cards Hand Signals Look carefully at slates, cards, or hand signals when held up Written Responses Circulate Look at responses (Could star good answers) (Make notes with student names of good answers and give affirmation and stagger correct answers of your choosing) Action Responses Look at responses

Summing it up I intend to use the following active participation procedures: