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Try Your Hand at Hands Down

 It's January, which means there's a whiff of resolution in the air. Teachers are returning to classrooms with the tang of new beginnings guiding those "new year, new you" vision boards. So, in 2024, let's focus on maximum impact in whatever teaching ideas we are pinning on Pinterest.

While schools and teaching situations may vary, when you sit down to do the math, most teachers are working a median of fifty hours a week and providing around 1200 hours of instruction to students each year. If we're planning things in the new year, they should be focused on easy solutions that increase student engagement during those hours. I submit for your consideration a No Hands Up Classroom in the new semester.

According to Robert Marzano, who has spent decades researching the science behind effective instruction, mild pressure has a positive influence on students' learning because it prompts them to focus their attention. Thus, increasing response rates in classrooms is one of the most essential steps to increasing mild pressure and student engagement. Marzano provides a plethora of ways to increase response rates, but they all stem from the idea that students do not raise their hands to participate in your classroom. Participation is not optional.

A No Hands Up Classroom is one where every question is answered by every student. In the text Hacking Questions, Connie Hamilton frames it as assuming that all hands are up and expecting all students to engage. It sounds simple, but we all know that students are complex and we have to establish a culture in our rooms that would support this structure. Students need to be given time to think and they need to understand why it is vital that everyone gets the chance to equitably participate. Once the stage is set, any teacher in any classroom should be able to ask a question and warmly demand answers.

To get started with a No Hands Up Classroom immediately, try the following:

1. Create a shared poster or document that you post in your classroom outlining the importance of equitable student participation in every class -- develop the WHY together.

2. Explain to students that you will always provide think/write/talk time before asking them to respond.

3. Cold call students using class lists, random name generators, cards, etc. This article has a variety of ways to do it safely while still promoting student thinking. The pre-call or batched cold call strategies are safe ways to ask any student to answer your question.

4. Create a list of 3-5 protocols that you will use each time students need to think deeply before answering. Teach them to students and expect students to be able to quickly gather and use the protocol before asking for answers. Harvard Project Zero Thinking Routines are a great place to start.

5. Develop a list similar to the Cult of Pedagogy list of alternatives to "I don't know" so students have a variety of ways to respond when they aren't certain of an answer. Safety is key in a No Hands Up Classroom and spending the time to teach strategies now will benefit you in the future.

If you are trying your hand at anything in this resolution-focused season, make it something that research says truly makes a difference. Establish a classroom where every student answers every question and it will hands down be the best decision you make in 2024.


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