Increasing Opportunities to Respond

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Increasing Opportunities to Respond

What is the intervention?
Opportunities to respond is a strategy for providing instruction that maximizes engagement of all students.

Who is it for?
Students of all ages.

Purpose
The goal of this intervention is to provide a way for all students to respond to content, rather than providing opportunities to individual students.

Background
Research indicates that increasing opportunities to respond has several beneficial outcomes related to student engagement, academic outcomes, behavior, and participation. Students tend to be more engaged, thereby participating more in class, which leads to higher academic outcomes. There also tends to be fewer occurrences of inappropriate behavior as appropriate behavior is reinforced. Using this intervention also allows for more efficient use of instructional time and should be incorporated into a teacher’s daily lesson plans.

Materials (See Attached Materials)
*Use the guide attached to help decide which strategy will work best for both the teacher and the class.

Steps for Implementation

  1. There are several ways in which teachers can increase opportunities to respond. Each method can be used for students of all ages and more than one method can be used:
  • Guided Notes
  • Response Cards
  • Computer Assisted Interventions
  • Peer Tutoring
  1. Select the method or methods that are best suited for your class.
  • Guided Notes: teacher-prepared handouts that provide an outline of the lecture, which students complete during class by writing key facts, concepts, and/or relationships.
  • Response Cards: cards, signs, or items simultaneously held up by all students to display their responses to a question or problem presented by the teacher.
  • Computer Assisted Interventions: programs that are specifically designed to provide instruction to students to improve skills.
  • Peer Tutoring: practices that employ peers as one-on-one instructors to provide individualized instruction, practice, repetition, or clarification of concepts.