We call on students in ways that establish collective accountability and model intellectual discourse.

There are many different ways in which teachers can call on students and respond to student questions and comments. At JJSE, we are deliberate with our choices in these moments, depending on the objectives we are trying to achieve in the classroom.

Scientist Voices, Amber Lancaster
In this piece, we see several portions of Science teacher Amber Lancaster’s lesson on evolution. One of her objectives is to develop her students’ “scientist voices,” so in the first part of the lesson, when a student asks a question about why our ancestors are so hairy, rather than simply providing an answer, she asks students questions and guides them through a reasoning process. (Ms. Lancaster makes her purpose explicit to the students when she praises the students for developing a line of scientific reasoning, or as she puts it, “the whys, the whys, the whys…”) Later in the lesson, at time 04:45 on the video, we see Ms. Lancaster use a classic call and response technique, rapid-fire cold calls. She has already asked students to think about different ways in which the finches they will be studying may differ from one another, so she quickly moves from one student to the next, asking for responses, which establishes the expectation that all students must be alert and thinking about the topic.