Doug Lemov's field notes

I’ve spent much of this week watching the first batch of video from school year 2021-22 classrooms. Watching classrooms with everyone masked is a bit disconcerting at first but it’s remarkable how quickly things feel closer to normal. Familiar interactions and relationships don’t take long to seem… well… familiar. And already there’s so much to learn.

I’m going to share a clip today from Bradi Bair’s math classroom at Memphis Rise Academy in Memphis, TN- one of our very favorite schools. In particular i wanted to highlight some really useful things about how Bradi uses Cold Call- how she establishes the positivity of the technique and how she uses it strategically to surface useful comments.

Let’s start with that idea, which you can see in the clip:

You’ll notice her Cold Call starts with a quick (just 30 seconds!) Everybody Writes. This is useful because it causes everyone to answer the question, boosting the Think Ratio, and ensures that anyone she calls on has time to be, and feel, prepared.

But just as importantly it gives her time to look … and to learn, to spot (and correct) common errors and Cold Call a student because she knows her answer is especially useful, rather than guessing or hoping what the student will say. (In TLAC 3.0, I call this Hunting, Not Fishing).

In this case she knows–as you can see from the appreciation she shares while circulating–that Vanessa has nailed it. That if she wants someone to talk about inverse operations she’s the one to call on.  But when she says, “I want to go to Vanessa. Vanessa’s got a really strong answer for us,” she’s also establishing something about Cold Call that will stand for the rest of the year- that when you get Cold Called it’s just as likely because you’ve done something really worthy. It’s a good thing. An honor. You’re invited into the conversation specifically because you have so much to add.

But as you can see Vanessa seems a little hesitant at first. Maybe she’s a bit shy. an important thing to notice then is how Bradi tries to keep it positive. She doesn’t rush Vanessa. And she makes her words seem important by writing them down and calling them “crucial.”

But she also does something you might miss. Remember, it’s early in the year so she’s working to build culture around Cold Call so notice that Bradi makes a subtle sending magic gesture… that’s what she’s doing when she points her fingers subtly wiggles them. Sending magic (left) is a way of saying, I know you can do it. I am supporting you. This is doubly useful so when you are masked and students can’t see you smiling!

One other thing to be aware of is that the more often you do something the more normal it becomes. I counted more than a dozen Cold Calls in Bradi’s class. All of them with a cheery positive voice and lots of Wait Time… often with a Turn and Talk or an Everybody Writes before them.  Interestingly though, she was doing mostly name. pause. question rather than the default question. pause. name which I previously discussed.  The reason I think might be that later in the year you don’t want students to know who’s getting the Cold Call but perhaps at the beginning of the year giving them a little more of a heads up, a bit more time to get ready and learn the rhythms of the technique is ok too.

Thanks, Bradi and Memphis Rise for sharing your great teaching with us!

bradi bair, cold call, memphis rise