Cold calling - how to do it right

 I am a big fan of cold calling, probably due to my training. However, I genuinely believe that cold calling when questioning (as opposed to taking hands up or letting students shout out) is the way to go for several reasons:

a. it ensures a plurality of voices in the class (not just the Hermione Grangers);

b. done well, in ensures all students think of an answer to each question, aware that they could be called upon, thus increasing student engagement;

c. it cements the teacher's authority in the classroom;

d.it allows the teacher to differentiate by directing specific questions to specific pupils, based on their current targets and prior performance. 

It's particularly useful when paired with other questioning strategies such as "pose, pause, pounce, bounce" and "agree, challenge, extend".

However, recently I read this excellent blog post about research done on cold calling in Germany and it got me thinking: what does it look like when cold calling is done well?

Firstly, it's important to remember that we are not cold calling to catch students out. Nor do you want to create a stressful environment for students, where they are terrified of being called upon to answer a question. So, here are some suggestions on how to do this:

1.Clearly communicate to students WHY you are cold calling and not taking hands up, and how it benefits their learning. Hopefully, that will put them at ease and prevent them getting anxious.

2.Always give thinking time. In fact, perhaps give the students time to discuss more difficult questions in groups/pairs (this is also a strategy to fall back on if the first couple of students are unable to answer).

3.Encourage students to be wrong and not worry about it. One way to do this is with the phrasing of your questions. Use lots of modals of hypothesis ("Who thinks they know what the answer might be?"; "What could be a solution here?") and allow students to hedge in their answers ("Well maybe it's..."; "I'm not sure, but I think that..."). Non-native speakers of the language of instruction may even need to be taught such phrases.

4.If a factually wrong answer is given, avoid humiliating correcting the student in front of everyone. Perhaps ask the class to signal (one finger - agree, two finger - disagree) whether they support the answer, then bounce to another student to give the factually correct answer. (This is also useful for showing you who else in the class had the same misconception.) 

5.With SEN students, it may be worth naming them before you ask the question, so they have longer to prepare their answer. Or, at the very least, ensure they are listening before asking any question you may direct to them.   

Ultimately, every class and setting is different, but I've yet to come across one where applying the above hasn't lead to more students contributing and more students spending more of the lesson considering potential answers.