Please Don't Call On Me

Engaging Conversation Track
I just had a chance to watch this video by   . Her personal story and research are very convincing.  She concludes by calling on teachers to be intentional and supportive when thinking about how to get students to participate in class discussions.  What are your thoughts about Think, Pair, Share, or Parlay Live Round Table, or Yoteach?  Do you have other strategies that will increase student participation but not cause undo stress?  

Top Replies

  • The eternal struggle! Great scientific approach to this Megan! Thank you! Lots of things I'll steal! Only thing I'd add is to give kids Socratic prompts and sentence starters as well as Blooms…

  • Take that, Doug Lemov!  (See his Cold Call strategy) In general, I've had the most luck with small group discussions, either pairs or quads, and really clear instructions on what to do. Matthew Kay's book…

  • Thanks for sharing your thoughts Megan and more importantly your strategies for improving student engagement. I have had some success with Think, Pair, Share and have found using games often brings students…

Parents
  • Thanks for sharing your thoughts Megan and more importantly your strategies for improving student engagement. I have had some success with Think, Pair, Share and have found using games often brings students out of their shells but I will definitely be using some of the other strategies suggested in the future. 

Reply
  • Thanks for sharing your thoughts Megan and more importantly your strategies for improving student engagement. I have had some success with Think, Pair, Share and have found using games often brings students out of their shells but I will definitely be using some of the other strategies suggested in the future. 

Children
  • Think, Pair, Share is such a simple strategy and I didn't think I would see such good results with it when I was focused on getting students to comfortably participate in discussions.  Once I saw results, I began to incorporate it more often.  At the end of the day, I think it comes down to getting students comfortable taking risks and sharing what they think.