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

2. 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)

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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

6. Resource Links: Hand Gestures and Math video
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 
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 
Whole Brain Teaching: The Basics  
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 
Whole Brain Teaching (Power Teaching) Lesson 2

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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”

10. Resource and Article links:
Using Hand Signals
Whole Brain Teaching (review)
The Science of Gestures
6 Hand Signals that bring learning to life

11. 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; ; yes no;
agree disagree
Note: You could also use clickers or plickers.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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?

16. 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.

17. 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 ______________.

18. 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______.

19. 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 ________________________________.

20. 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

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