Monday, November 26, 2012
Focus-Chapter 3
During the first couple months of school I was guilty of calling on the students who raised their hands, but quickly noticed the pattern of who was going to raise their hand every time, and who was going to fly under the radar. The kids who were raising their hands were the ones who I already knew knew the answers. In the past couple of weeks I have had a couple different trainings that have helped me with this, and it really aligns with what Schmoker says in the section for checking for understanding. Since then I have been limiting my questions that allow for one or two students to answer by being called on. In ECRI training I learned that if a question has a short answer that I can use a hand signal to have the students give a choral response. If the answer is longer, or will have varying answers, I will have the students "pair share," as I circulate and listen for understanding. Before, I didn't spend a lot of time with "pair share," because I felt like the kids would get off task, but I'm am finding it to be a great way to check for understanding. Afterwards I like to either share some of the interesting things that I heard, or have a few students share.
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I too used to call on students with hands raised. Since the book study last year I have used "cold call" and have had great success. Students know that I am trying really hard to be fair and not picking on kids. Otherwise the same kids are always answering and others are checking out. I am like you as well with the pair share technique. I do use it though I have to force myself because they tend to get chatty. I think it is all about expectations and accountability. Some kids just do not like to work cooperatively but that is real world stuff. They almost have to be forced to do it and then eventually it seems like they buy in. I love to check for understanding this way because I know that if we can teach others then we solidify our own understanding. Way to go with trying something new!
ReplyDeleteIt is easy to worry about students getting off task, but if they know there will be cold calls, they tend to stay focused enough to be able to answer... When I cold call and they don't know the answer, I ask the others to "help 'em out" and then have them say the answer based on what their classmates told them.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of the "cold call" afterwards. I'd like to try it, and ask the student what their partner said.
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