Doug Lemov's field notes

How Bryan Uses Cold Call to Overcome It

• Keeps it Positive
  • He exudes calm and positivity in response to correct and incorrect answers (e.g., smiles, maintains a relaxed posture, strikes a neutral yet supportive tone). This de-stigmatizes error and lets kids know that his Cold Calls aren’t intended to be “gotchas.” Consequently, kids feel comfortable revealing their errors and taking risks.
  • He makes an effort to come back to kids who get it wrong (e.g, Lanice at the end). In doing so, he communicates that:

1) I’m coming back to you because I know you can master this.

2) In this class, error is not a dead end, but a starting point for learning.

3) I’m Cold Calling because I want to help you succeed

4) It’s OK if you don’t get it now because you eventually will

• Unbundle and Scatter: Bryan unbundles his questions into smaller parts and then scatters them across his class. This enables him to quickly assess a variety of students at different skill levels. To ensure reliability, he even follows up with students who initially struggled to make sure they truly understand the material and aren’t providing false positives.

• Manages the Pause: Bryan lengthens the amount of Wait Time that he gives students after Cold Calling with more rigorous questions and shortens his Wait Time after posing easier, more unbundled questions (e.g., “Is this growth or decay, Nyesha?”). By strategically managing the length of his pause, Bryan gives students a fair opportunity to show how much they know.

• Normalize “Checking”: Bryan Rejects Self-Report by asking follow-up Cold Calls (i.e. “checking”). He’s so consistent about doing this that students now expect to be held accountable for demonstrating true understanding. This culture of individual accountability encourages students to be as honest as possible about what they know and don’t know. It also makes it easier for Bryan to check understanding in the future.
  • Example: When John self-reports that he understands the difference between two problems, Bryan Cold Calls John to answer a similar problem later in the lesson. Since this is par for the course, John answers without a hitch.

• Balance of Taking Hands/Cold Call/Call and Response*:
  • Bryan keeps kids engaged and the pace of the lesson “feeling fast” by balancing his use of Cold Call, Taking Hands, and Call and Response. Each shift between techniques adds a “milepost” and creates the “illusion of speed.”
  • His Cold Calls keep kids in suspense about which student he’ll call on next. Similarly, his Call and Response keeps kids on their toes; in order to respond, they have to be following the lesson closely.

• Systematic: Bryan makes sure students know that the Cold Call is universal and impersonal.
  • He Cold Calls Lanice twice, which shows students that everyone is always fair game for a Cold Call.
  • Even when he pre-calls John (i.e. lets him know he’ll come back to him for a Cold Call), Bryan keeps him feeling accountable. He doesn’t return immediately to John, but rather, farms parts of question #6 to other students. In doing so, he lets John know a Cold Call is coming, but not exactly when.

*Note: For those keeping score, we counted that he Takes Hands three times, Cold Calls four times, and use Call and Response twice. (Feel free to let us know if you saw otherwise!)