Hacking Questions by Connie Hamilton

Hamilton, Connie (2019-04-14). Hacking Questions: 11 Answers That Create a Culture of Inquiry in Your Classroom (Hack Learning Series Book 23) (Kindle Locations 221-222). Times 10 Publications. Kindle Edition.

Oh, wow.  Sometimes things come to you as a gift from the universe that you didn't even know you were looking for.  I just started Connie Hamilton's book, Hacking Questions and my mind is already blown.  It's funny how sometimes you don't realize how bothered you are by something and then someone names it and you're like--------------------------------------
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​I've always been subtly bothered by the hands-up system I use in my classroom.  Like a good little Teach Like a Champion teacher, I've use cold call on a regular basis. I have called on students I know are not paying attention to wake them up.  My big solution has been to use index cards with names on them to make sure I am calling on students equally.  But the hands up system has never quite sat right with me.

Hack #1 Assume All Hands are Up 

As soon as I read the hack title, I was intrigued.  Here are my take aways from this hack: (But I REALLY recommend you go and read it for yourself!)

1. Label different forms of interaction:  Teach the students protocols and then tell them which one you are using in your lesson.  Be transparent.  What I'm thinking is that my students have been raising their hands for 4 years and it will take great intentionality to retrain them. The power in this to me all is the goal of having ALL students engaged.

• Blurt time (all students share ideas like a round of popcorn sharing)
• Take volunteers (this is for when you want a student to explain and example or model something for his/her classmates)
• All hands up "Communicate to students that you assume they always have their hands up."  When you are using this concept, use a random name caller.  But more importantly (in my mind) is truly giving students a time to talk, write, or think before calling on anyone.

Hamilton writes: Consider opening a class discussion with, “What are you wondering about?” or “How are you making sense of this?” These questions are more metacognitive, and invite students to think about their thinking around the content without expecting that they have already processed it. Instead of prefacing a question with, “Who knows . . . ” try beginning with “Who can start us off in thinking about . . . ”

Next Hack: Kick the IDK Bucket Keep the cognitive baton in students’ hands

Gotta go!  I have more reading to do!  

I find these seemingly simple but powerful ideas so invigorating and exciting.  Small changes matter.  (Although getting my students not to raise their hands will be no small task.)

Hamilton, Connie (2019-04-14). Hacking Questions: 11 Answers That Create a Culture of Inquiry in Your Classroom (Hack Learning Series Book 23) (Kindle Locations 388-389). Times 10 Publications. Kindle Edition.