1. Keeping Them All Engaged:
Active Participation
by Traci Blackburn, Instructional Coach
Stephanie Rountree, Reading Support Specialist
(based on the work of Anita L. Archer, Ph.D.)

2. Active Participation Why? What?
Increased academic achievement
Increased on-task behavior
Decreased behavioral challenges
What?
Verbal Responses
Action Responses
Written Responses
GOAL- ALL Students Respond. When possible use response procedures that engage ALL students.

3. Active Participation Power Teaching /Whole Brain Learning Class! YES!
Teach! OKAY!
Switch!
(Chris Biffle)

4. Active Participation Think Pair Share
Have students think about responses. Can also be written and recorded as a quick write.
Pair
Have students share their ideas with their partners. You might have them record their partner’s best ideas or simply share orally.
As students are sharing, record ideas on charts, graphic organizers or boards.
Share
Use for sharing with the class or a “sharing wall” (post-it notes on window, door etc…).

5. Active Participation - Choral Responses (Use when answers are short & the same.)
Whole/small group
Choral Responses Students are looking at the teacher.
Ask a question.
Put up your hands to indicate silence.
Give thinking time. (wait time)
Lower your hands as you say, “Everyone.”
Students looking at a common stimulus.
Point to the stimulus. (words on a chart, board, poster, etc.)
Give thinking time.
Tap for a response.

6. Active Participation - Choral Responses
Choral Responses Students are looking at their own book/paper.
Ask a question.
Use an auditory signal. (“Everyone” , snap, tap, etc.)
Hints for Choral Responses
Give adequate thinking time. (3 second rule on average)
Have students signal to indicate enough thinking time for questions requiring longer processing time/written.(thumbs up/pencils down).
If students don’t respond or they blurt out an answer, repeat.

7. Active Participation - Partners (Use when the answers are long or different.)
Partners Assign partners.
Pair lower/middle or middle/higher performing students.
Give the partners a number (#1 or #2).
Sit partners next to each other.
Utilize triads when appropriate.

8. Active Participation - Partners
Other hints for partners
Give students a “sentence starter.”
Teach students how to work together and give appropriate feedback.
Teach LOOK, LEAN, AND WHISPER technique.
Change the partnerships occasionally (every three to six weeks).

9. Active Participation - Partners
Uses of partners.
1. Say answer to partner.
2. Retell prior learning/steps .
3. Review content (Tell, Help, Check).
4. Brainstorm (Think, Pair, Share).
5. Explain process, strategy, or algorithm using examples.
6. Read to or with partner.

10. Active Participation - Partners
Other Uses of partners.
Monitor partner to see if directions are followed.
*name, page #, all complete, etc.
Share materials with partners.
Assist partners during independent work.
Collect papers, handouts, assignments for absent partners.

11. Video - Active Participation (Segment 1: Active Participation - 2nd/7th )

12. Video - Active Participation
S-L-A-N-T
What other good instructional practices did you observe?
Think - Pair – Share

13. Active Participation - Individual Turns
Less desirable practices
#1. Calling on volunteers.
Guidelines:
Call on volunteers when the answer is a product of personal experience.
Don’t call on volunteers when the answer is a product of instruction or reading. Instead expect that all students could answer your question.
#2. Calling on inattentive students.

14. Active Participation - Individual Turns
Option #1 – Partner First - Have students share answers with their partners. - Call on a student or partner to share.
Option #2 – Question First - Ask a question. - Raise your hands to indicate silence. - Give thinking time. *Wait time I & Wait time Call on a student.
Option #3 – Whip Around or Pass
This strategy is best used when there are many possible answers to a question.

15. Active Participation - Individual Turns
Procedures for calling on students to insure that all students are involved. Procedure #1 - Call on students in different parts of the room. Procedure #2 - Write names on cards or sticks. Draw a name. *Equity Sticks*

16. Active Participation - Individual Turns
If a student is called on and says “I don’t know.” Scaffold his/her response.
Procedure #1 - Have student consult with his/her partner.
Procedure #2 - Have student refer to his/her book.
Procedure #3 – Have student “phone-a-friend”.
Procedure #4 - Give a clue or simply tell student an answer. If answer is short have class repeat with “everyone” signal.
**Go back to this same student to also hold them accountable for the answer!

17. Active Participation - Other Responses
Act out. (facial expressions, movement, etc.)
Touch Stimulus. (point to, follow along, etc.)
Keeps students engaged
Helps with monitoring
Use hand signals or gestures.
Useful to share categorical responses.
Carefully introduce and model hand signals.

18. Active Participation – Gestures (Examples)
Drawing Conclusions:
When you draw a conclusion you use 2 things:
What you know in your HEAD
and
What you’ve read in the STORY.
Literary Devices
Simile- “Compares 2 things using LIKE or AS”
Onomatopoeia – a word that imitates sound Crash-Boom-Pow!

19. Active Participation - Other Responses continued
Display answer with response cards.
Ask a question. Have students display card or point to response.
Pinch Cards- (e.g., vocabulary words, story grammar elements, grapheme, punctuation, numeracy, operation symbols).
A,B,C,D color-coded cards

20. Active Participation – Written Responses
3-2-1
Three-tear sheet
Quick write/Quick draw
Exit Tickets
Dry Erase Boards/Response Paddles
Think-Pair-Share
Post-it notes work GREAT!

21. 3-2-1 Reflection T-P-S Your big aha!
3- ways students can respond during a lesson?
2- ways you could use response cards?
1-thing you learned today that you would like to try in your classroom?
Your big aha!

22. Contact Information
Traci Blackburn
Stephanie Rountree