Opportunities to Respond

What are Opportunities to Respond?

Opportunities to respond (OTR) provides students the occasion to respond to questions, prompts, etc. through individual, small group, or whole class response. Response may be verbal (e.g., choral response, individual answer, etc.) or visual (e.g., hand signals, response cards, guided notes, etc.)

However, it is essential that the method of response is varied and intentionally includes students who may otherwise disengage from the lesson.

Providing frequent opportunities to respond supports active student engagement and allows teachers to check for understanding to identify if there are content areas which need to be further addressed.

For example, if a question is posed to the whole class and less than half of the students respond correctly, that is an indicator to the teacher that further instruction is needed. OTR allows students to frequently engage with content and can support critical thinking.

Resources

Quick Whole Class Active Engagement Strategies

 

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