Teach-OK

 One of WBT's most POWERFUL classroom strategies...the Teach-OK...how can you use it with in your classroom?

I've been working on lesson plans for the rest of the year, and one main focus in my planning is the implementation of the Teach-OK. I look at this as the magic component of WBT. It's this piece that does so many things to take a lesson to the next level. I've made a list of my "Top Ten Teach-OK Things to Remember". OK, so I only have six so far. So really it's a Top 6 list. But Top 10 just sounds cooler.

Check out the great posters from Stephanie at
3rd Grade Thoughts!

1. Introduce "Mirror" first. Get your students used to mirroring your gestures. Show them exactly how to move their hands, and explain exactly why those movements work (they help to show the meaning of the words). If we want students to eventually be able to come up with their own gestures they need practice with somebody else's gestures first. Students need to get over their fear that "everybody is watching me." What can help them get over this, and start to feel comfortable gesturing with purpose, is to be given the tools to be successful right from the start. The stages of Teach-OK are: start with mirror, move to repeat Teach-OK (where students simply repeat everything that was said exactly as the teacher said it), then move to summarizing, then move to critical thinking.

2. Use "Switch" after each level above when students have reached their comfort level. For example, get students comfortable repeating exactly what you said with gestures, then use "switch"so they get used to doing it on their own. Then, once they are comfortable summarizing content using the Teach-OK, have them summarize using Switch. For me, the Teach-OK helps to teach students how to talk. Switch teaches students how to listen. The talking part needs to come first, because you can't learn to listen if now one knows what to say!  Switch takes the students out of their comfort zone, and makes them a little more exposed. This is wonderful practice for those students that have a big fear of public speaking. It's still public speaking, but only to one person in a room where lots o other people are talking at the same time.

3. Introduce specific,key, critical thinking gestures. The gesture for the because-clapper and the example popper are two great brain toys to use in the Teach-Ok. Make these gestures the Go-To gestures for critical thinking. If students can give a reason and an example of a fact then they really do understand it. Introducing these two simple gestures gives students a "bag of tricks" to pull from when they are expected to do some critical thinking about a topic.

4. Give enough time for students to say everything they can possibly think of, and then give them a little bit more time. Students should continue the Teach-Ok until the class is called back with the Class-Yes. Practice from the start to repeat over and over until called back with the Class-Yes.This habit really needs to be formed before the summarizing and critical thinking steps take place. If this is a habit, then students will continue trying to think of new ways to say the same fact, of new examples to give,or new reasons. This is exactly what you want! Get them to exhaust their brains, and then give them more time to think of even more.  The key is to find the perfect balance, because if you give them too much time you may have some discipline issues (which of course you would fix the scoreboard).

5. Praise, prompt and leave. As the Teach-Ok is happening, do not stand in the front of the room watching. Scan the room looking for gestures. Head right to that pair of students that aren't using gestures appropriately. Usually in my class there's always one student that looks like he's having a seizure or something - spastic gestures just for fun - he thinks I won't notice his gestures don't really mean anything :)Whoever you see first, use this time to quickly walk by and praise them for something they are doing well, prompt them to make certain improvements, and then leave them alone to adjust their own behavior.

6. Include some super silly Teach-Ok's! A great way for a lesson to start is to have the class Teach-Ok  all about how excited they are to learn about (fill in the blank with your topic). Yes,middle schoolers will giggle and roll their eyes at you. But they will all be rolling their eyes on task -and 100% on task behavior is what makes teacher heaven!

Five Step Lesson Plan: Earth Layers Example

Step 1: Question: What are the characteristics of  Earth's layers?
Post this question on the board. Have students tell their partners how excited they are to learn more about the Earth. Mirror with words: I know a lot about the Earth! Last year, in 5th grade, I made a model of the Earth from clay and cut it to show the crust, mantle and core! I have learned about the crust, mantle, and core before! Teach! (OK!)

Step 2: Answer
Mirror with words: Crust, mantle and core! The crust is thin, made of rock. This rock is either basalt or granite, depending on the type of crust. Continental crust is made of granite. Oceanic crust is made of basalt. Teach! (OK!)
Mirror with words: Crust, mantle, and core! The crust is thin, made of either basalt or granite, depending on the type of crust. The mantle is made of rock. This rock is mostly a mixture of iron and magnesium. No one has ever drilled down to the mantle. Teach! (OK!)
Mirror with words:  Crust, mantle, and core! The crust is thin, made of either basalt or granite, depending on the type of crust.  The mantle is made of iron and magnesium. The core is made of metal. The metal is mostly iron. Teach! (OK!)

Step 3: Expand answer
Hands and eyes. Explain that the lithosphere is made of the crust and upper mantle. It is broken into tectonic plates."Litho-" means rigid. The asthenosphere flows slowly, and causes the tectonic plates to move. Have students close their eyes and imagine they are in a large bath tub full of small, yellow, rubber duckies. When they stay very still in the bath tub, the duckies don't move. Ask students to imagine that they start moving their arms and legs around underwater. What happens? The duckies move! The water is the asthenosphere, the duckies are the tectonic plates! Teach! (OK!)
Mirror with words: The lithosphere is rigid and the asthenosphere is weak. Explain that the mesosphere is the strong part of the lower mantle. The core is divided into two parts: the outer core is liquid and the inner core is solid. Teach! (OK!)
Play the You Tube video. Teach! (OK!)

Step 4: Assessment
Explain that you will read a statement, and students have to agree (yes) or disagree (no way). Ask students to come up with gesture for "yes" and for "no way".

1. All of the crust is made of granite. (no way)
2. The mantle and core are made of different materials. (yes)
3. A tectonic plate is made of both the crust and the upper mantle. (yes)
4. The inner core gives the Earth its magnetic field. (no way)
5. The farther into the Earth you go, the greater the heat and pressure. (yes)
After each statement have a student stand and use a because clapper to explain their answer: The statement is a "yes" because... or The statement is a "no way" because... Use lots of ten finger woo's!

Step 5: Critical Thinking
Have students complete a pie piece drawing. You could use the points on the scoreboard to add/remove items to this activity. After students have completed the activity, have them stand with a Class-Yes and Mirror with words to explain one step of the activity. Repeat with different students for each step of the activity.

Five Step Lesson Plan Example

The five step lesson plan is an amazingly simple tool because is allows the teacher to focus in on what is really

important. Chunking material, using gestures, and ending with critical thinking, for example, are all part of this 
lesson plan that make it so amazing. here is one example of how I put it to use in my sixth-grade science class.

Step 1: Question
In this first step of the five step lesson plan, you present the students with a question. You want to engage 
students\ in the content and get them excited about what they are going to learn about.
EXAMPLE:
Class-Yes. Pose a question to the class: What is a biome? Students tell their partner how excited they are to 
learn about biomes! Do a Teach-OK and tell your table partner everything that you know about the Earth, 
ecosystems, biomes, and the environment.

Step 2: Answer
In this step you want to give students a short, consice answer to the question. You will expand on it late, but
here you give the basics. This would be a great place to introduce a Power Pix. You can have students mirror
or mirror  with words as you explain this short chunk of information.
Example:
Class-Yes. As a review from the day before, explain that an ecosystem is a group of living and nonliving things
that interact. Mirror with words. Give gestures to show the sun being used by plants, plants being eaten by 
animals, animals being eaten by other animals, plants and animals using water, climate affecting all living things,
 etc. Teach-OK. Assess during the teach-ok, if students don't completely understand the definition of an 
ecosystem, go back and review again. When students are ready, move on to step 3.

Step 3: Expand the answer
This step gives students the bulk of the details for this concept. For complex concepts, you may have several
chunks of info to explain. If you do have multiple chunks, explain one piece and then do a Teach-OK for
 students to process the information.
Example:
Class-Yes. Have students close their eyes and imagine themselves as a forest. They are made of trees with 
leaves that turn color every fall, squirrels, insects, and coyotes, with warm summers and cold winters. Tell
them that all of the living and nonliving things inside them are in a perfect balance. There are enough resources
in your forest to keep all of the living things happy. Now have students open their eyes and look around. Tell
them that each person is an ecosystem Ask students who is a forest in Illinois? Who is a forest in California?
In Canada? In Australia? (When they raise their hand doesn't matter, this is just showing that similar forests 
can be found all over the world) Whose forest ad ten trees? Whose as a thousand trees? (Again, it doesn't' 
matter when they raise their hand, this is just showing that some ecosystems are small and some are big). 
Have students look all around the room, at each person, imagining that they are looking at similar forests from 
all around the world, some big, others small, but all with similar characteristics. With gestures, explain that a
biome is made of separate ecosystems from all over the world that have similar climate, animals, plants, etc. 
So if each student represents a deciduous forest from a different place in the world, then all of the students in
the class together make a biome. Teach-OK. Assess, reteach, and move on to step 4 when ready.

Step 4: Assess
There are several variations to this assessment step. The key is to do it quickly so that you get information 
quickly as to whether or not your class has learned the concept. Stand up/sit down, thumbs up/down, and 
whiteboards are all great low-tech ways to assess. SMART response clickers are another great way to
assess quickly if you have them in your classroom.
Example:
Class-Yes. Use thumbs up for true, thumbs down for false. Give 5-8 statements and ask students to thumbs
up/down for each statement. You may have students put heads down during this step. If reteaching is
necessary, go back to step 3. When students are ready, go on to step 5.

Step 5: Critical Thinking
This is, arguably, the most important step. It is in this step that students take the concept and internalize it. 
They make it their own. This is a great time to do writing (oral or on paper).
Example:
Class-Yes. Have pairs of students complete a because clapper sentence on a small whiteboard. Deserts are a
biome because... The pond in my backyard is not a biome because... When pairs finish, have them decide on
roles (one partner plays Smarty, the other plays Doofus) and have a conversation about the question "what is a
biome". When students are all finished, pair two groups up to work together, assign one group to be a "one"
and the other would be a "two". One's read their because clapper to the the two's. Two's then need to come 
up with an example popper to go with the sentence that the one's just shared. Then groups switch. Twos read
 their because clapper, one's give an example popper.

Teach-OK, Because Clapper, and Example Popper

School has been in session for almost a month now, and my students are back into the groove of being back in school. We have made it through our first unit, had our first test, and I am getting to know each of my students much better. I LOVE it when I get to this place...the place where I know all of my students names (100+), their quirks, personalities, and what makes them each individuals. This is always a focus for me at the start of the year. I never think I do a good enough job at this, and am always trying to do better.

This year, with the introduction of Teach-OK, I feel like I am getting to know each of them so much better. Giving them SO many opportunities in a class to talk and share with partners gives me more of a chance to assess each student and learn more about them as individuals. I get more chances to hear each student talk and interact with a partner, which gives me more of a time to hear what they have to say! So simple, it's genius.

The basic idea of Teach-OK is to give your students short bursts of information (with gestures if possible), and then they teach their partner this information. Both partners fo a full turn toward each other, both partners talk and gesture at the same time. This means that every student is saying the information, hearing the information, and moving their body to reflect the information. Three areas of the brain are stimulated, therefore making retention of information and long-term memory more possible.

My students have mastered the Teach-OK, and are starting to include some critical thinking components into their Teach-OK like the because (clapper) and example popper. Students use the because clapper to give a reason or an explanation for something. When they say because they clap. So silly, but the sound and movement help students remember to give a reason. Its lso a great way to tie new concepts to prior knowledge and give an opportunity for critical thinking. After the because clapper statement, students will use an example popper. The student touches the top of their head and moves thir hand up quickly as if an example has popped right out of their brain. The student says ""For example...", and gives an example of the idea from the because clapper.  Again, super simple, super brilliant. Here's an example...Rule #1, follow directions quickly, is important because (clapper) we need to do things quickly so we can get everything one. For example, if we don't follow directions quickly we won't have very much time in class to work on our homework.

These are the elements that allow student personalities and prior knowledge to shine through. I've learned so much about mu students in a short amount of time by listening to the kinds of reasons they have and the kinds of examples they come up with.

Not only does it allow me to assess their understanding, it helps me to get to know them as individuals. Teacher Heaven.

My next step it to begin having students give the Class-Yes and have the class mirror their because clapper and example popper. I haven't attempted this yet...it's on the list for next week.

Wib on Wibbiteers!