Response to "Quest for the Best Questioning Strategy: Cold Calling vs. Hand Raising"

I heartily agree with what David Ginsburg, the author of this blog, has to say about "cold calling" (although I've never heard it called that before).  "Cold calling" is the practice of calling on students randomly, ensuring that you've called on the majority of your class at least once, rather than constantly calling on the few "hand raisers" in the class.  At the beginning of each year, I laminate a set of cards for each of my classes that has the students' names.  During each class period, I shuffle the cards as I call on students for answers.  At the beginning of the year, students tend to balk at being called on randomly ("I didn't have my hand raised!") but before long they are on board with the process.  If a student is unprepared to answer, I simply ask, "Do you need more time to think of an answer?" and then set that student's name card aside so that I remember to come back to him/her.  Part way through the year I will have students asking me, "Can I have more time to think?" and I am more than willing to allow that.  Just like Ginsburg points out in his blog, I believe that cold calling leads to greater student engagement, and it gives me a more realistic picture of how well the entire class understands the concepts we are learning.

The original post by David Ginsburg, "Response to "Quest for the Best Questioning Strategy:  Cold Calling vs. Hand Raising"can be viewed at http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/coach_gs_teaching_tips/2011/06/the_quest_for_best_questioning_strategy_cold_calling_vs_hand_raising_1.html?