An ASCD Study Guide for Total Participation Techniques, 2nd Edition

Most of the questions contained in this study guide are ones you can think about on your own, but you might consider pairing with a colleague or forming a study group with others who have read (or are reading) Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an Active Learner, 2nd Edition

Chapter 1. The High Cost of Disengagement

1. What are Total Participation Techniques? Do you have any immediate response or reaction to how you can use them in your classroom?
2. Describe the beach ball scenario. What implications does this type of questioning have on student learning?
3. Discuss the term listening objects. What are the implications of all that is entailed in that term? What personal experiences can you share related to that term?
4. How might Total Participation Techniques support all learners, from preschool through college?

Chapter 2. A Model for Total Participation and Higher-Order Thinking

1. Draw a picture that represents what you think is happening in the mind of a student when he or she is engaged in higher-order thinking. Now, put it in words. What do you think is happening when a student is engaged in higher-order thinking?
2. Describe the TPT Cognitive Engagement Model. How might it support deeper learning? How might it be used as a personal reflection tool and a peer observation tool to improve instruction?
3. Describe how the Ripple works in a classroom. How might it help you and other teachers improve the craft of teaching? How can you help yourself and your colleagues remember to ripple your prompts?

Chapter 3. TPT Tools and Supplies

1. What kinds of TPT-toolkit items would best support teaching and learning in your classroom?
2. Which TPT items are you most eager to try out? Why and how?

Chapter 4. On-the-Spot TPTs

1. Which of the on-the-spot TPTs lend themselves to what you will be teaching this week or next week?
2. List and rank the top three most useful TPTs in this chapter. How might you remind yourself to try out these TPTs several times during the next few days?
3. Try a few and reflect on their benefits and limitations in your classroom. What worked and what did not? What can be improved?

Chapter 5. TPT Hold-Ups

1. Which hold-ups could you use as you teach the current unit of study?
2. Generate questions that require lower-order and higher-order thinking that students can respond to using hold-ups.
3. How might you use a hold-up during a faculty meeting or professional development activity to help teachers interact and process their thinking about cognitive engagement?

Chapter 6. TPTs Involving Movement

1. Which students would most benefit from interactive TPTs involving movement?
2. How are movement and learning connected? Reflect on times when getting up and moving enhanced your own learning experiences.
3. Rank the three activities from this chapter that you feel most drawn to use. Explain your rankings.
4. Try out a few of the TPTs involving movement. Reflect on the benefits and limitations for teaching and learning in your classroom and others.

Chapter 7. TPTs to Guide Note-Taking and Concept Analysis

1. Discuss the opening quote of this chapter. What is the root of the problem? How might we help students become better note takers?
2. Though this chapter deals with note-taking, how might the principles and activities be used with younger children in debriefing presentations?
3. Try a few of these activities in your classroom. Share your reflections and any adjustments needed for effective use in your classroom.

Chapter 8. TPT Wrap-Ups

1. Discuss your thoughts about the opening quote by Keely Potter. In what ways do you provide closure to your lessons? Is it effective? How can it be improved?
2. Try out one or more of the examples in this chapter. How did the TPT work? What might you do differently next time?
3. This chapter concludes the presentation of the teaching techniques. Rank the five TPT activity-based chapters (Chapters 4?8) in order of their usefulness to you and explain your rationale.

Chapter 9. TPTs as Formative Assessment Tools

1. How might teachers make the most of formative assessments and ensure that the results of their assessments improve student learning?
2. Describe the one-liner wall. How does it operate as a formative assessment and cause the formation of new learning?
3. After discussing how the authors view the purposes of assigning grades, consider your views on and purposes for assigning student grades. What are your thoughts regarding using TPTs when assigning grades?

Chapter 10. Building a TPT-Conducive Classroom

1. What learning differences have you noticed in students throughout your educational career?
2. With regard to your views on learning differences, how is your philosophy similar to or different from those of Jack Welch or the authors? What reflects your views in your classroom?
3. How do you help students build confidence?
4. What are your thoughts on the power of teacher intervention with regard to peer rejection and acceptance?

Afterword

1. Which of the pitfalls could you see yourself experiencing? How can you remind yourself to check for and monitor total participation?
2. After a week of infusing your lessons with TPTs, reflect on the experiences in your classroom. What do you notice about students, student learning, and yourself? What has surprised you?
3. Ask a trusted colleague or instructional coach to observe your lesson and conduct a quadrant analysis of the sequence of your lesson's activities.
4. How did you implement TPTs? What worked particularly well? What might have enhanced higher-order thinking and total participation?

Appendix B

1. Look through the resources in Appendix B. Are there any that might be helpful as you create a TPT-conducive classroom?
2. Do any of these materials inspire you? Do you have an idea for a different hold-up or reminder poster that might help your or your students communicate in a safe way?

Total Participation Techniques: Making Every Student an Active Learner, 2nd Edition, was written by Pérsida Himmele and William Himmele. This 208-page, 8" × 10" book (Stock #117033; ISBN-13: 978-1-4166-2399-1) is available from ASCD for $23.96 (ASCD member) or $29.95 (nonmember). Copyright © 2017 by ASCD. To order a copy, call ASCD at 1-800-933-2723 (in Virginia 1-703-578-9600). Or buy the book from ASCD's Online Store.