Instructional Playbook

Opportunities to Respond: Data Collection, Observation & Reflection Tool (OTR-DORT)

Opportunities to Respond Defined Examples and Non-Examples

Code/ Descriptor

Definition and Examples

Structured Non-Verbal Response

All students in the class indicate with their hand, all at the same time, an answer to a question, or a level of understanding, allowing the teacher to quickly surmise how well students are comprehending the material. Examples: Number of fingers showing the students’ level of understanding (fist-to-five), “hold up your hand if…” Thumbs up/thumbs down, etc. Students respond to a prompt from the teacher by pointing to something on the wall or in text (book, handout, notes) on their desk. Examples: “Point at the president on the wall who lead us into WWII.” “Place your finger on paragraph two of page 268 to show me you are ready.” In this activity, students respond to a question by moving to a corner of the room that represents their answer or opinion. Each corner has a sign posted like “Strongly Agree,” or “Strongly Disagree,” etc. This works especially well with subjective questions that can prompt discussion and debate. Examples: “Go to the corner of the room that shows how you feel about school lunches.” Students simultaneously hold up a card, sign, or something similar, to show their answer to a question or response to a problem presented by the teacher. Cards of various colors work well, like red, yellow, and green, showing how well a student thinks they understand a concept. Another approach places various answers on categorical answers on cards (e.g. “Yes/True/Agree” and “No/False/Disagree”). Examples: “Hold up one or more cards that show the blood types that could result in a child of these two parents.” Students write a brief answer on a marker board and show it to the teacher to obtain feedback. Each student may have a whiteboard, or students may work in groups, with a larger whiteboard assigned to each group. Examples: “Show me on your boards the name of the artist of this piece.” “On your boards, I want each group to draw and label the parts of a cell we studied in this unit.” These are often known as “clickers,” which look like small remote controls. They come in various forms with different capabilities. Each student uses one to give answers to a test, quiz, or survey. Basic models allow answers like A, B, C, D, or E. More advanced models allow students to type in numbers or phrases for their answer. Student response systems allow teachers to get immediate class and individual results on assessment items. SRS applications (which are much cheaper!) are also available on smart phones, iPads, tablets, and the Internet. Examples: An app like Student Clicker – Socrative, Poll Everywhere, etc.

Hand Signal

Point at Something

Four Corners

Response Cards

White Boards

Student Response System