Professional Development
- PD Operations / HELC
- Design, Media, and Online Learning (DMOL)
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Effective Practices
- PL Toolkit
- PL-1 Develops Student Learning Goals
- PL-2 Data-driven instruction
- PL-3 Design Effective Lesson Plans, Units & Assessments
- I-1 Objective Driven Lessons
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I-2 Check for Understanding
- Assess Mastery
- Begin with the End
- Checkpoints
- Chunking Text
- Closure
- Cold Call
- Exit Ticket
- Graphic Organizer
- Guided Practice
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Post It
- Randomizing Responses
- Right is Right
- Running Roster
- Stretch It
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student Conferences
- Student-Generated Questions
- Teach Back
-
I-3 Differentiation
- Chunking Text
- Double Plan
- Exit Ticket
- Flexible Grouping
- Graphic Organizer
- Grappling
- HOT Question
- Independent Practice
- Leveled Text
- Multimedia
- Open-Ended Responses
- Post It
- Product Menus
- Right is Right
- Running Roster
- Stretch It
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student-Generated Questions
- Take a Stand
- Tiered Assignments
- Workstations
- I-4 Higher Level Thinking
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I-5 Maximizing Instructional Time
- 100 Percent
- Academic Posture
- Call and Response
- Cold Call
- Do Now
- Entry Routine
- Exit Routine
- Job Assignments
- Material Organization
- Non-Verbal Interventions
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Pacing Tools
- Right is Right
- Stretch It
- Strong Voice
- Student Conference
- Teach Back
- Tight Transitions
- Work the Clock
- Workstations
- I-6 Communicating Content/Concepts
- I-7 High Academic Expectations
-
I-8 Student Engagement
- Academic Posture
- Call and Response
- Closure
- Cold Call
- Do Now
- Engage and Connect
- Graphic Organizer
- HOT Question
- Independent Practice
- J-Factor
- Job Assignments
- Leveled Text
- Non-Verbal Signals
- Open-Ended Responses
- Product Menus
- Randomizing Responses
- Real-World Connections
- Reinforcers
- Structured Peer Conversation
- Student-Generated Questions
- Workstations
- Work Hard, Get Smart
- I-9 Classroom Management
- I-10 Classroom Climate
- Literacy Routines
- Academics
- Swivl Pilot Program
- eLearning
No Opt OutDescription
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No Opt Out is a practice to encourage students to answer when they are unable or unwilling to participate. This is one of the most helpful and efficient ways to raise classroom expectations and to create a culture of accountability. “In high-performing classrooms, a verbalized or unspoken ‘I don’t know’ is cause for action” (Lemov, 2010). Teachers must acknowledge the behavior and communicate the expectation that everybody must participate in the learning process. No Opt Out is a sequence that starts with a student who is incapable or reluctant to respond to a question and ends with the same student answering the question as often as possible (Lemov, 2010). This practice builds confidence since the students are supported in their efforts to arrive at the right answer.
- Give adequate wait time after asking a question.
- Support the student who does not know an answer, but clearly expect the student to get to the answer.
- Provide the answer; your student repeats the answer.
- Another student provides the answer; the initial student repeats the answer.
- Provide a cue; your student uses it to find the answer.
- Another student provides the cue: the initial student uses it to find the answer.
- Request another correct answer or an explanation of “why”.
- Add several more questions that add rigor in appropriate language for the students.
- Provide wait time when stretching questions.
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Alerts
This practice needs to be part of the classroom culture. Consistency is key to setting up expectations for students. Teachers must balance using No Opt Out against the need to keep the lesson momentum going. Focus most on using this technique with questions closest to the learning objective.
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Quick Tips
Consider allowing students to use resources such as books, anchor charts, or any material posted in the classroom to help students answer.
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Resources
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Other Strategies
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Make this fun by using the ‘lifeline” format from the popular show. Students can phone a friend, poll the audience, or 50/50. Depending on the question, you could poll the class (like poll the audience) or eliminate choices (50/50). After the student uses the lifeline, the teacher has the original student share the correct answer. The key is to make the original student restate or rephrase the answer, so they are accountable for the right information.
Boomerang
When students cannot come up with an answer, as them to “boomerang” the question to another student. When the other student answers, the “boomerang” comes back to the original student and he/she has to restate/rephrase the answer.
Ball Toss
During the lesson, the teacher has a ball ready and tosses it to the student who will answer the question. If a student is unable to answer they have the option of throwing it to another student. When that student answers he/she must throw it back to the original student to restate or paraphrase. This variation keeps everybody engaged since they do not know when they are getting a question and the ball tossed their way. This is a version of Cold Call.
