Technique: No Opt Out

One consistency among champion teachers is their vigilance in maintaining

the expectation that its not OK not to try. Everybody learns in a high-performing
classroom. One key step in the process is eliminating the option for students of
opting out: muttering I dont know or shrugging impassively when asked a
question, and enforcing the message that they wish to bethat they will beleft
alone by individuals who presume to teach them. No Opt Out can help ensure that
all students, especially reluctant ones, take responsibility for learning. In the end,
theres far less incentive to refuse to try if doing so doesnt save you any work, so
No Opt Outs attribute of causing students to answer a question theyve attempted
to avoid is a key lever.
No Opt Out is also effective in helping students who genuinely dont know the
answer, because it rehearses success. Students hear themselves getting it right
and getting it right over and over again. Many students come to school expecting to
fail because theyve normalized failure. Teachers sometimes forget how powerful it
can be to experience a simple success when good news in school is rare and
elusive. We hardly notice an event that is a potential watershed to a child because it
is so familiar to us.
Finally, No Opt Out honors and validates students who do know the answer by
allowing them to help their peers in a positive and public way. With those benefits in
mind, lets start by examining No Opt Out version 1.0.

No Opt Out Version 1.0: Getting It Right

Imagine this scenario: Its the first day of school, and youre reviewing
multiplication facts with your fourth graders. You ask Charlie what three times eight
is. Charlie mutters I dunno under his breath, then rolls his eyes and turns away.
Its a critical moment. Students all too commonly use this approach to push back on
teachers when their unwillingness to try, lack of knowledge, or a combination of the
two makes them unsure or resistant. Many teachers simply dont know how to
respond and are forced to leave their Charlies impassively staring out the window
instead of engaged in academic struggle. The result is a strong incentive for
students to say, I dont know. Those three words can save a student a lot of
trouble. If Charlie establishes that he doesnt have to participate, its going to be a
long year of you gingerly (and weakly) stepping around him, of other students
seeing that Charlie does what he wants, and of Charlie not learninga lose-lose-
lose situation.
If you used No Opt Out, you would turn to another student, Devon, and ask
him that same question. Assuming that he correctly answered twenty-four, youd
now turn back to Charlie: Now you tell me, Charlie, whats three times eight?
Charlie would have just foundwithout your stopping for a time-consuming and
possibly ineffective lecturethat he had to do the work in your class after all. Later
well look at more challenging contingencies that you may be wondering about:
What if Charlie doesnt answer when you come back to him? What if Devon doesnt

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answer? For now, its most important just to understand the power and necessity of
coming back to a student who wont try. The moment when you circle back and ask
the student to answer the original question is the No Opt Out.
No Opt Out proves to be just as powerful in situations where students are
trying. Heres an example from Darryl Williamss third-grade classroom in Albany,
New York, in which a student, James, was unable to identify the subject of the
sentence My mother was not happy. He first tried to guess: Happy? he asked.
Darryl persevered, asking Whats the subject? again more slowly. However, James
was still unable to answer, and Darryl asked the class, When I am asking you for
the subject, what am I asking for? The student he called on now replied, Youre
asking for who or what the sentence is about. Returning to James, Darryl repeated,
When I ask for the subject, I am asking for who or what the sentence is about.
Whats the subject? James now answered correctly: Mother. The sequence began
with a student unable to answer and ended with him providing the answer. The
second students answer didnt replace the original students; it supported it. James
has seen himself succeed where just moments ago he was unable to. He has
rehearsed success and practiced one of the fundamental processes of school: get it
wrong, then get it right.
But lets examine what you might have done if things hadnt gone so well.
What if James still couldnt answer the second time around, or, worse, what if he
had shrugged his shoulders and refused, muttering I dont know, looking straight
at you as if to say, I already told you that. Or if he actually looked right at you and
said, I already told you. I dont know. Darryl might respond by asking another
student, Well, what does that mean the subject is? The student having answered,
The subject is mother, Darryl might then return to the original student, asking
him, OK, James, now you tell me: Whats the subject of the sentence? With only
an answer to repeat, its harder still for James to opt out and maintain the useful
illusion that he cant answer. But in all likelihood, with any plausible gray area
removed, he will answer. If he doesnt, its a case of defiance that you can address
with a consequence and an explanation: James, you dont have to get the answers
right in my class, but you will be expected to try. Ill see you here at recess,
confident that you are not accidentally penalizing a student for not knowing.
Or you might use a firmer iteration of No Opt Out before returning to James:
Tell him again, David. Whats the subject? And then, Lets try it again, James.
Whats the subject of the sentence? Or you could repeat the answer yourself:
James, the subject of this sentence is mother. Now you tell me, whats the
subject? Regardless of which approach you take, the sequence ends with the
original student repeating the correct answer: The subject is mother.
Heres a last worry about using No Opt Out that you might have felt: What if
in our math example Devon, called on to save the day, couldnt answer either or,
worse, mimicked Charlies impassivity and merely shrugged? In that case, you
might give the answer yourself: Class, three times eight is twenty-four. Devon,
what is it? . . . Good. Now you, Charlie. If necessary, you might put a bow on the
message: As you know, I expect great things from all of you. Wrong is OK with me;
failing to try is not. Then move on.

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 Oftentimes resistance is more subtle and nuanced. Its important to
remember that students may push back a bit. What youre asking them to doto
give their best in public when they dont think they know and when their
expectation may be failureis scary at first. So responding to the resulting
pushback with a bit of Emotional Constancy is key.
Instances of resistance are pretty rare in most cases and diminish quickly
once a teacher establishes a calm, thoughtful insistence about opting in. In fact,
using No Opt Out empowers you to help all students take the first step toward
success. It reminds them that you believe in their ability to answer, and it results in
students hearing themselves get answers correct. This causes them to grow
increasingly familiar with a successful outcome, normalizing the process for
students who need it most.

Four Basic Formats of No Opt Out

There are four basic formats of No Opt Out. Whats consistent across all four
formats is that a sequence that begins with the student unable to answer ends with
the student giving the right answer. This ensures that everyone comes along on the
march to college.

Format 1

You provide the answer; the student repeats the answer.

Teacher: Whats the subject, James?
James: Happy.
Teacher: James, the subject is mother. Now you tell me. Whats the subject?
James: The subject is mother.
Teacher: Good, James. The subject is mother.

Format 2

Another student provides the answer; the initial student repeats the answer.
(A variation on this method is to ask the whole class, rather than one individual
student, to provide the correct answer and then have the initial student repeat.)
Teacher: Whats the subject, James?
James: Happy.
Teacher: Who can tell James what the subject of the sentence is?
Student 2: Mother.
Teacher: Good. Now you, James. Whats the subject?
James: The subject is mother.
Teacher: Good, James. The subject is mother.

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Format 3

You provide a cue; your student uses it to find the answer.

Teacher: Whats the subject, James?
James: Happy.
Teacher: James, when I ask you for the subject, I am asking for who or what the
sentence is about. Now, James, see if that can help you find the subject.
James: Mother.
Teacher: Good, James. The subject is mother.

Format 4

Another student provides a cue; the initial student uses it to find the answer.
Teacher: Whats the subject, James?
James: Happy.
Teacher: Who can tell James what I am asking for when I ask for the subject?
Student 2: Youre asking for who or what the sentence is about.
Teacher: Yes, I am asking for who or what the sentence is about. Now, James, whats
the subject.
James: Mother.
Teacher: Good, James. The subject is mother.
Although No Opt Out can be a powerful addition to your classroom, its
important to always strive to balance requiring a student to answer with the need to
maintain momentum. As you do so, it may help to use this rule of thumb: the closer
a question is to your objective, the more likely you would want to consider using No
Opt Out.

No Opt Out Version 2.0: Toward Greater Rigor

No Opt Out 2.0 represents what my team and I have learned from watching
teachers use the technique over the years since I originally described it. Mostly, that
involved making it more rigorous. We noticed that champion teachers, leveraging
initial successa student answering correctlyoften followed up right away to add
challenge or extra practice. They added a second question for the student to
answer, reinforcing the successful thinking right away, or added a more challenging
follow-up, much as youll read about in Stretch It
Consider this very basic interaction:
Teacher: Whats three times five? Carson.
Carson: Eight!
Teacher: Its not eight. Who can tell Carson what operation he used?
Jalani: He used addition instead of multiplication.
Teacher: Thats right. So, Carson, whats three times five?
Carson: Three times five is fifteen.
Teacher: Yes, good. And whats five times three?

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Carson: Its fifteen also.
Teacher: Good. And four times five?
Carson: Twenty.
Teacher: Oh, youve got it now! I cant stump you.
This teacher not only gives Carson extra practice at a skill he struggled with
but also subtly engineers the cultural experience: the sequence ends not just with
Carson getting one right but showing that his success was no fluke. He answers
several questions; his teacher acknowledges that she cant stump him. His
success is palpable. Consider how this sort of interaction turns the tables after a
wrong answer. Or consider how some small tweaks of this interaction could make
it not only positive but more rigorous:
Teacher: Whats three times five? Carson.
Carson: Eight!
Teacher: Its not eight. Who can tell Carson what operation he used?
Jalani: He used addition instead of multiplication.
Teacher: Thats right. So, Carson, Whats three times five?
Carson: Three times five is fifteen.
Teacher: Yes, good. And if I wasnt sure, what operation could I use to check that?
Carson: You could use division.
Teacher: Good. Tell us how.
Carson: Well, youd divide fifteen by five and get three, and youd know your
multiplication was right.
Teacher: Thank you, Carson.
In this case, the teacher is focused on asking not another version of the same
question but a related but different question. In both cases, she is using her follow-
up to shape Carsons experience of success, as well to push his skills.
Beyond the four basic formats for No Opt Out, there are a number of ways to
think about following up on an initial No Opt Out sequence to get more out of it, to
make No Opt Out a more positive experience, and especially to boost the rigor.

Add Another At Bat

Follow up a sequence of No Opt Out with another try at a similar problem. As

in the case example of three times five, you could ask a series of questions that get
increasingly harder, causing the initial student to do more cognitive work and
offering her a chance to shine and feel like the success was real.

Add an Error Analysis

Consider again the example of Carson, who gave the answer of eight when
asked to multiply three and five. It doesnt take much sleuthing to recognize that
Carson added instead of multiplying. Another way that Carsons teacher might have
made her No Opt Out more rigorous, then, might have been to ask Carson to
explain that point: And what did you do incorrectly the first time? Or What was

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the difference the second time around? This allows Carson to narrate his thinking
processThe first time I added, and the second time I multipliedand
demonstrate understanding of his own error.

Add a Star

At the end of Mr. Vacas example in case study 2, he gives Jason a couple of
chances to show how much he knows, and perhaps even how anomalous his initial
mistake was. His last statement, Now youre just showing off, offered with a smile,
makes this point explicit. The moment of success offers a great opportunity to
identify the place where the student used a successful action. See it as the
equivalent of putting a star on a childs paper. By calling a students attention to
attributes like perseverance (You really stuck with that) or to a bit of playful
celebration (You told me you couldnt, but when you used your notes, it turns out
you could!), strategic positive reinforcement can help underscore the success of a
No Opt Out and leverage traits like grit and persistence so they happen more often.

How should you go about deciding which type of No Opt Out to use? As a rule
of thumb, sequences in which students use cues to answer questions are more
rigorous than those in which students merely repeat answers given by others.
Similarly, sequences in which students do more of the narration and intellectual
work are generally preferable. At the same time, theres no way to slow down
enough to cue students on every question that stumps somebody. No Opt Out is
most critical when you use it to establish far-reaching cultural norms in your
classroom. If youre pretty sure a student is trying to establish his privilege of
ignoring your questions when he sees fit, using No Opt Out to revise his
expectations is quite possibly more important than any other objective.
No matter what balance you strike, students in your classroom should come
to expect that when they answer incorrectly, say they cant answer, or decide not to
try, theres a strong likelihood that they will conclude their interaction by
demonstrating their responsibility and ability to identify the right answer.