Strategy of the Week #5: Total Participation Techniques

From Your Instructional Coach….

Strategy of the Week #5: Total Participation Techniques

(Adapted from Persida Himmele & William Himmele)

Total Participation Techniques (TPTs):  Teaching techniques that allow for every student to demonstrate, at the same time, active participation and cognitive engagement in the topic being studied.

Why are TPT’s important?

• Using TPTs provides evidence of active participation.
• Using TPTs provides evidence of cognitive engagement.
• All students demonstrate that they are learning and interacting.
• Deep cognitive engagement does not come from being talked at, it comes from opportunities to process, reflect, question and interact with each other.
• Students develop higher-order thinking skills.

TPT’s to try:

• Hold-ups: Each student thinks about and discusses their responses to a set of prepared questions.  Students should choose a response, discuss with a partner or group, and on cue, “hold-up” their response card.  
• Selected response hold-up:  Students choose a specific word to write on a card (Aquatic or terrestrial, fact or opinion)
• Number card hold-ups:  This might be used in math, with questions “Which of the two numbers is greater?”  “What is the sum of 23 + 42
• True/Not True hold ups:  Teacher would provide a statement and students vote if it is a true statement, or a false statement.  This might be used in content.
• Multiple choice (A,B,C,D):  Students are selecting a choice from multiple possibilities provided by the teacher.

• Movement TPTs: Students are manipulating objects or are out of their seats, interacting a processing learning together.
• Line-Ups:  Students stand in two parallel lines, facing a partner.  The partners are discussing a question or problem.  One line shifts, so the pairs change, and students discuss with a new partner.
• Inside-Outside Circle:  This is a similar activity to line-up.  Half of the students form an inside circle facing outward.  The other half of the students make an outside circle, facing the inside circle.  Students are discussing in pairs.  One line shifts, creating new partners.
• Bounce cards:  This is a structured brainstorm.  Students are in pairs and one student starts with an idea, “Butterflies go through distinct changes.”  The partner then “bounces” ideas from the original, using sentence starters, “That reminds me of…”, “I agree because…”, “True.  Another example is when…”, “That’s a great point…”
• Appointment cards:  This works to get students interacting with different peers.  Each student is given an appointment sheet with time slots.  They ask peers to sign up for a time on their sheet, and they sign up for the same time on the partner’s sheet.  The teacher then says “Meet with your 10:00 appointment.”  The 10:00 partners find each other, and talk about the topic.

• Guided Note taking: These TPT help students to identify important information to write down, when direct instruction occurs,  and how to organize it correctly.
• Graphic organizers:  Graphic organizers help students record information in a way that visually supports their understanding.
• Anticipatory guides:  These help promote thinking and background building prior to instruction.  They can be true/false statements, and students need to discuss and justify their choices with a partner.  The goal is for students to make connections.
• Picture notes:  These are meant to go with written notes to help students process what they have learned.  The teacher selects pause points, and students stop, process what they have learned, and draw a picture to illustrate the concept.
• A-Z sentence summaries:  At the end of a lesson or unit, each student is given a letter from the alphabet.  They must write a sentence about the topic, beginning with that letter.  For example, in a unit on life cycles, a student given the letter R, might write “Resembles parents from the time the animal is born, until it is an adult.”

If you are interested in incorporating Total Participation techniques in your classroom, be sure to fill out the Partnership Interest Form below.  I would love to support you!

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