A common observation from the back is how often in a lesson a teacher will hear only one person’s answer to a question and then assume that, with the answer having been said aloud, everyone else will now know it. It’s common for teachers to tell me they feel that it would be weird or pointless to repeat a question that’s just been asked.
However, often without the teacher realising, it’s really very common to find that multiple students did not process whatever was said and, counter to the teacher’s assumption – they still don’t know the answer even though someone else just said it – or, as least, their version of it.
Things said just don’t automatically sink in somehow. Hearing something is not the same as processing it and then making it stick. However, the hearing part is at least a start. Quite often in class – particularly, but not exclusively, with younger children – the answers given from one child are simply not audible beyond their immediate classmates; their response isn’t loud or clear enough to travel across the room. It pays to repeat and ask someone else from across the space just to check for hearing. But it goes beyond that…
In our Cold Calling walkthru, step five is a powerful element – in our view.
