Participation routines give students time to think before answering or being given the answer. They foster richer discussion because more students contribute ideas. Learning occurs through social interaction and cooperation, and it is task-driven, purposeful, and student-focused.
Numbered Heads
- Explain the purpose and procedure.
- Group students by having them count off from 1 to 4.
- Pose a question or task.
- Monitor and assist group discussions.
- Facilitate the class discussion by choosing the number of the group members to share.
What You Can Do
- Set time limits and clear expectations for each step in a participation routine.
- Signal transitions from one step to the next.
- Circulate around the room while students are thinking and/or discussing.
- Have students use sentence starters for discussing and sharing.
- See the RED Pages in the Teacher's Edition for more background on these routines.
Sentence Starters
Asking for Feedback
What do you think?
Could you explain your thinking?
Do you have another idea?
We’d really like to hear your thoughts on…
Agreeing and Disagreeing
I like the way…
I hear your views, but I disagree because…
I had a different reaction. I thought…
Elaborating
I agree, but would also add that…
We could combine these ideas by…
Reporting Ideas
We all agreed that…
Most of us agreed that…
We think…
It seems to us…
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