Doug Lemov's field notes

A few days ago I reached out to some teachers I admire. Call it an RFI (Request for Insight). The topic was Cold Call. I wanted to know how exemplary teachers were using and adapting Cold Call …. particularly how they were using data to inform their Cold Call.

What I got back was pretty amazing… more wisdom than I’ll be able to include in TLAC 2.0 so I thought I’d share some of it the blog.  The first response is from Emily Bisso, who teaches and supervises History teachers at Ocean Hill Collegiate in Brooklyn.  Here are some of the details from her (amazing) “how I adapt it and use it” email.

• The Cool Call: I think the ideal of a “cool call” is a very simple one that doesn’t get a lot of press. There’s a behavioral component (kids who are very shy, or less likely to share, or who maybe need a build-up) and also an academic one (prepping a kid’s answer in the same way that a turn and talk would). Kids get a pre-talk or quick check in, making it not a “true” cold call, but it builds automaticity in the reaction to a cold call. So for example, I have Nasir P. He used to not volunteer in class at all and would respond to cold calls with very low voice or by trying to opt out. I have him in the front right corner of the room so after scanning, I go directly to him, check in with him, prepare his answer and “faux” cold call him so to the class, it seems like a cold call and gives him the boost. Now, in January, he volunteers frequently and handles cold calls very well and this has normalized failure for him in my class.
• Specific placement/mapping the room: Cold calls are even better when you can scan the room and already have a “map” of who is where – your strugglers are here, your high flyers are there.  So you can sample likely skill levels by sampling location.
• The partner cold call – I think to build peer accountability, I’ll often cold call right after a turn and talk and phrase it as, “What did your partner say?” or “What did you add to your answer based on what your partner said?” This is a specific type of cold call that I think builds culture and also forces kids to use habits of discussion. Now that it’s January, kids often begin their answers with, “My partner and I…” or “(Partner) said ____, and I tend to agree..”
• Follow-ups: Let’s say I asked, “What are some of the reactions the Native Americans might have had to the original Jamestown settlers?” My prediction is that most kids would respond with some sort of negatively charged word, like ‘angry,’ ‘upset,’ etc. However, I’d want to plan in a new cold call to push them – an upgrade (“What’s a better word than ‘mad’?), a push-cold-call (“What’s a positively charged word we could use?” to aim for something like, “curious”), and a extend cold-call (“Why?”) if kids don’t immediately provide evidence for their answer. It reminds me of a choose-your-own-adventure story.
• Summary: Asking kids to summarize a discussion point in cold-call format, both to gauge data on HoD and also content understanding. This can be paired with a turn & talk, and levels of kids (like asking a struggler to summarize and being successful would be a really good data point)
• The repeat: Asking the same cold call question at the beginning and end of a lesson to gauge mastery (or before/after a source, etc.) in the same way that you would use an anticipation guide.

Not only that but Emily shared some of the work she does with the teachers in her department.  As part of their planning, for example, she helps them to plan Cold Calls for specific students into their lessons based on performance data from assessments.  You can see an example of that here.

Bisso.ColdCall.Planning

Pretty incredible stuff!

Cold Call; planning, Emily Bisso, Leadership Prep Ocean Hill Collegiate, TLAC 2.0