creating engaging classrooms

 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 ...