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 ...

 Questioning is a core part of teaching. Yet, as you badger away at an individual student, drilling down to see what they know and how deep their learning goes, how do you involve the rest of the class? One finger = agree Students in agreement with the answer/statement/opinion raise one finger. Two fingers = challenge Students who disagree with or want to challenge an answer can signal with two fingers. This is great - how often have you asked another student (or a series of students) only to hear the same opinion as the first student you asked? This way you can immediately jump to the dissenting voice. Three fingers = extend (or build, as I've also seen it called) Students who agree, but for different reasons than stated, or who want to extend the answer, can signal with three fingers. Train your classes to do this as students answer. Suddenly, you can see where the whole class is, and suddenly they are all participating and thus have an even greater reason to invest in listening ...