I am going to start the "Teach-Okay" tomorrow with my ELD groups. With most of them, I am doing literature studies. We'll work on a mini lesson, write to a prompt about something they read the day before, and then read. I need some help with figuring out prompts. I'll give you an example of what we're doing in a couple of classes:

Grade 1 and 2 - Teaching that when you're comparing 2 things, you use -er, i.e. bigger; and when you compare more than 2 things, you use -est, i.e. biggest.

4th - Reading about the Titanic - answer the question, "What might have happened if there had been enough lifeboats on the Titanic? Do you think everyone would have survived? Why, or why not?" I don't see how I can do any kind of Teach-Okay with that kind of thing, let alone use gestures. Maybe when I give them some extra information not in the book? But figuring out gestures for anything just stumps me.

5th and 6th - reading a goofy fiction story. I know these students will probably roll their eyes and make rude comments about having to do gestures. There are only 7 in each group, too, so they'll probably be really embarrassed. I can see them being more receptive to doing gestures for vocabulary, but again, I'm just stumped about what to use. U can usually draw something for a word.

Diane, here is what I do for compare. I put one hand on top of the other and make a open ball with my hands. I switch my hands back and forth to show comparing. To say "when 2 or more things compare use 'er'" I would show two fingers with my hand, then the compare gesture followed by 'er' in sign language. I would do the same thing for 'est' except I would use 2 fingers and then spread my arms apart for 2 or more things comparing. Hope this helps!

Thanks, this is a great idea!

Hi, I'm a Whole Brain Teacher who teaches with Biff. Have you tried the crazy professor game with reading? There is a video on teacher tube. This is a good comprehension strategy for students. I also use gestures for vocabulary words. For example, today we did the word exchange, (we moved our hands in a trading motion as if we were trading something). When I do this I say, What is exchange? Then we give the defintion in gestures, to trade one thing for another (moving one hand to the right and switching hands across each other to show that we are trading hands). I hope this has helped.

Hi Diane,
Don't forget that Teach-Okay! can be used for so much more than just teaching a specific concept, but can also be used for discussion, and to reinforce directions, as well as debate and sharing opinions. You'll be amazed as you use it more and more how you can fit it into EVERYTHING. You'll get a better idea of this when you're at the conference and you see Biff use Teach-Okay! for a wide variety of things.
You mentioned lit circle questions....BEFORE you discuss it as a whole class, you give them short bits of time to discuss the question using Teach-Okay! Then rope 'em back in with Class-Yes! and share some responses. Then you can build on their responses with MORE teach-okay! by asking them to tell their partner what they think of what ________ said, whether they agree with _____________ and why, etc...

With gestures, remember, too, that there are academic gestures, and there are listening and speaking gestures. Model for them the kinds of gestures people use when they 'talk with their hands', and the kinds of gestures people use to demonstrate that they hear what the other person is saying. This way, when you're having discussions that don't necessarily tie to a specific, formal gesture, they can still use gestures as they teach each other.