The impact of classroom “cold calling” is debated among educators.

  • “As a teacher, I struggle with the strategy of randomly calling on students to demonstrate understanding and to increase engagement. I hated it so much when I was a kid because I had crazy high anxiety and was terrified of getting an answer wrong in front of my peers.” —Secondary Math Teacher in Illinois
    • “I always struggled with this too until I started teaching students about classroom climate and how to respond/react when someone doesn’t know something or gets something wrong. Now I love to hear kids say, it’s okay/I can help you. It has really been a game changer!” —Educator in Pennsylvania
    • “I always share the questions/work I have first and give students time to figure it out and check with others while I wander around to help. I tell them beforehand everyone should be prepared to share, and if you’re not sure, now is the time to come up with something.” —English Language Arts Teacher in Minnesota
    • “Maths teacher here, if you are able to get Miniwhiteboards into your classroom for students to show thinking on it’s a massive way to overcome this, I’ve got ~20 anxious students in my classes who will happily answer every question on one!” —Math Teacher in England
    • “My son has (diagnosed) general & social anxiety disorder. The cold calling & presenting in front of the whole class has legit sent him into full blown panic attacks. He’s working on managing his anxiety, but it’s going to take time. I wish more of his teachers understood this.” —Educator in New York
    • “As a HS ELA teacher, I am frustrated with colleagues who still employ this tactic.  I feel the same way about forcing students to read aloud.  While these actions may have been common in the 70s/80s when I was a student, we know too much today about the stress it causes. Enough!” —High School English Language Arts Teacher in New York
    • “The best teachers hold kids accountable and call them up to better standards. When a student gets an answer wrong and feels bad about it, that feeling is actually good for them, because it teaches them to be better prepared next time and prepares them for the real world.” —Teacher in The United States