Choosing Students to Answer Questions
How to Keep All Students Engaged in Lessons
When asking questions in class, it is important to keep the entire class engaged. The traditional method of picking a student who raises his hand may not be the best method of calling on students, as some students may never raise their hand, and thus never engage in the lesson. Regardless of your choice of picking students to answer questions, be sure to leave ample wait time, keeping in mind those students who struggle may need more time than other students to come up with the correct answer.
Picking Students by Random Choice
Choosing students at random to answer questions ensures that every child in the class gets a chance to answer, and requires all students to pay attention in case they are the next student chosen. Some simple ways to do this is to have each child’s name on a Popsicle stick, and whichever stick is pulled out is the student who must answer the question.
You can also keep track of the students you randomly choose by notating a class list on a clip board. The benefit to the clipboard method of keeping track is that you have more control over which students answer which question. This can be helpful in a class with large differences between ability levels, as the more difficult questions can go to the higher level students while the easier questions go to the lower level students.
There are also computer programs that will randomly choose a student’s name for you. If you have a projector in your class, you can set it up and simply push a button and a student's name will come up on the screen. You can also have each child write his name on a slip of paper, and have a student draw a name from a jar to see who will be the next child to answer a question.
Involve the Students in Choosing
By allowing the students to have a say in who is chosen, you keep all the students involved. You can have the last person who answered a question pick a Popsicle stick, or pick another student at random. The benefit to having the students choose is that they will keep track better than you of who has already gotten a chance to answer a question. You may want to keep track on a clip board just in case, though.
However you decide to have students answer questions in your class, the important thing is to keep it fun, and as fair as possible. Keep in mind the particular mix of students in your class, and ensure that each student is capable of answering the question. If a student gets a question that she does not know the answer to, you can ask the class if there is anyone who can help her with the answer, or simply help her discover the answer herself through additional guided questions or comments that you make.
Learn more tips for common teacher issues.
Picking a Student to Answer a Question
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