Cold calling: holding collective attention by putting pupils on the spot
Written By: Author(s): Tom Sherrington and Sara Stafford
1 min read
Keep students engaged by posing a question and asking a particular student to answer
Cold calling is a technique that creates an expectation that all students are ready to answer every question. This promotes attention, engagement and participation.
What does it mean?
Developed by Doug Lemov in Teach Like A Champion, ‘Cold Calling’ is designed to promote active thinking during whole-class questioning. Rather than asking for a volunteer, the teacher poses a question, pauses (allowing all students to think and answer in their heads) and then calls on a particular student to respond. The benefits of this technique include: increased participation in learning; improved momentum and pace; more strategic checking of mastery; and greater inclusion.
Lemov explores a range of variables for this strategy, which all yield different results. These include lengthening the pause and thinking time, alternating between ‘hands-up’ and ‘hands-down’, and experimenting with when to name the student who will answer.
What are the implications for teachers?
Lemov suggests
Join us or sign in now to view the rest of this page
You're viewing this site as a guest, which only allows you to view a limited amount of content.
To view this page and get access to all our resources, join the Chartered College of Teaching (it's free for trainee teachers and half price for ECTs) or log in if you're already a member.
This article was published in October 2018 and reflects the terminology and understanding of research and evidence in use at the time. Some terms and conclusions may no longer align with current standards. We encourage readers to approach the content with an understanding of this context.
Please would you be able to share the publication date of this resource? Thank you.
Hi Andreea, this page was published on 24 October 2018. Hope it’s useful.