I teach High School Literature and I am LOVING WBT in my classroom. I have seen how effective Teach! OK! is but my main goal is to get my students really thinking, not always just remembering definitions, plot details, literary terms etc. I would love to introduce a topic for discussion, and do a "Discuss! (or Explore!) OK!" type thing. For instance, after reading The Odyssey, I might ask who they think suffered the most, Penelope or Odysseus. Normally, I would get the usual eager students who like to raise their hands offering their ideas while everybody else daydreams about the cute one in PE, or if I ask them to write their answers, but then they would all be working independently. But what if I tried to marry Teach! OK! with critical thinking???? Their offspring might be genius!? Students would turn to their partner/group and very energetically say to each other "So, what do you think? Penelope? Why? I think such and such etc." Then I would ask various students to share the idea which came out of the Power Discussion. Kind of like a Think, Pair, Share a la Biffle!
BEFORE I go trying something new, I wanted to run it by the WBT forum first for advice and feedback. Do share....

Actually, this semester I was surprised to discover how easy it is to use Teach-Okay for critical thinking. The teacher makes a statement like, "tell your neighbor the difference between metaphysics and epistemology" or asks a question, "what are the main characteristics of Socrates in the Crito?" ... then you say "Teach!" and the students turn to each other and give their answers. Several keys have to be observed. Students keep talking until you say "Class!" ... and, very important, they make gestures as they talk ... that way you can "read" the gestures and see who is on task and who is not. In traditional Teach-Okay, you give information and the students teach it to each other. In critical thinking Teach-Okay, you pose a topic or question and students explore it with each other.
Now, this can be juiced up in lots of ways. Here are three: you can say, "I want to see you using lots of examples. When you use an example, please 'pull it out of the top of your head' like this ..." then demonstrate an example making gesture ... Or, you can say, "I want you to compare and contrast x and y and when you do, use this gesture ..." Then interlace the fingers on both hands together for "compare" and bump the fists of both hands together for "contrast." Or, you can say, "I want you to use your 'anything thing,' your pen, which can stand for anything ... a person, an idea, a principle, as you explain your answer to your neighbor."
Especially effective after midyear, when you know the students' strengths, is divide the class into groups of three ... the strongest student sits in the middle with a weaker student on either side. Then, you can have the stronger teach the two weaker or the stronger monitor the work of the two weaker. You can be quite blunt about the division, saying, "I've looked at everyone's grades and I've picked class leaders from the top 1/3 of the class." Then give each person in the group a number, the 1, the 2, and the 3. The 2 is the leader. You can then say, "2s teach your neighbors." Or "2's encourage the other two team members to use gestures and teach each other."

I teach 7th grade math and I use teach/okay to discuss the different ways to solve a problem. I will have my students explain to each other how they solved the problem. Often we find different ways to solve problems, and I will have the students compare/contrast the different methods for solving a problem - the goal in mind being for them to see that there are many different ways to get to the same answer...

I know a lot of people use compare and contrast to encourage critical thinking during teach/okay.. so in your situation we would ask your students to compare/contrast the suffering experienced by by Penelope and Odysseus. I don't know if high school students need as specific of directions, but in 7th grade they have a hard time discussing ideas with out parameters.

I like the Power Discussion idea.. I used Think, Pair, Share before I started Whole Brain Teaching and now I have just incorporated it into my WBT style - sounds like you are on to something!

The more I learn about WBT, the more I love it! And yet.... my fear is if I say "Tell your neighbor why Juliet tells Romeo not to swear by the moon" there will be a "clap clap OK! followed by the sound of crickets.

Maybe I should just do it with confidence and they will automatically try to discuss/answer the questions..?
Really?

I think if you go with Chris's suggestion of the structuring the way you set up partners you will find more success, my odd's are high-level and my even's are low-level. So when I ask a more complicated question, I let my odd's teach first, then the evens follow. Simpler questions that my lower level students feel confident about are the ones they answer... I don't ever tell my students that this is they system, but it works for our class.

I think if you structure the discussions in the begining of class, then you could lead into a more quality discussion towards the end. When we do Whole Brain Teaching note taking we define a topic, teach it each other, then ask for examples from the class, once we have three or four examples then we teach each other the examples and choose one or two to record in our notes.. Maybe this is how you need to start your discussions, by posing a question, asking for an explanation from one or two students, to start everyone thinking. Then have your students teach the given explanations and then come up with one of their own. just a thought... it might work?? Sometimes we just gotta jump in feet first and hope for the best!!

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to go for it!! Can't wait.