Choosing a Student

It's often the case that the squeekiest wheel gets the grease. If you ask a class for an answer or a volunteer for a task then the same students will put their hands up to answer and the quiet ones will sit quietly and never speak.

And even if you decide to try and ask different students in each task it's hard to keep track and easy to forget the quiet ones when you want an answer.

This tip solves that.

Simply have the students write their name on a piece of paper and fold it up. Collect them all and put them in a hat. Now, when you want to ask a question to the class you simply pick a name at random from the hat and ask that student. No favouritism and all the students need to pay attention in case their name is called next!

Of course you don't want to waste time having the students writing out their names at the beginning of each lesson so remember to take along an envelope to save all the names in at the end of the lesson. Next time just empty the envelope into the hat and start go!

See Also

Hands Down - a way to choose random students with a fuller explanation of why and how.