1 post tagged “cold calling”
I've already said this in class, as well as talked with Ann about it, but I used the popsicle sticks yesterday (Friday) in class. I loved it.
The kids, as you all know, are very concerned with fairness. The popsicle sticks work great for this concern, since it's perfectly fair, obviously. I didn't get any kids complaining about not being called on, which I do when I call on them because they knew that they had just as good a chance as anyone and I wasn't showing any favoritism. I noticed that the class seemed even more involved when they got to pick the stick. This helped because it involved 2 students in the asking process.
They seemed to think this was even more fair than me picking the stick. I loved it. The class was really responding well, even though my lesson wasn't that good. I will definitely use that the rest of the summer, and I'll try to use it next fall once I start teaching lessons.
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Oh yes, I also wanted to mention, I hate it when I ask a question and every kid puts their hand up and they go "Ooo, Ooo!" It just twarks me out. It always makes me annoyed, particularly since many students don't even know the answer, they just put their hands up and figure out what they want to say when/if a teacher calls on them. I rarely actually call on the student with his/her hand up. The sticks eliminate this problem, and they're awesome for this and for me as a teacher.
