Mike Hadden

If you want to make sure that you include all students in your class then some kind of system for choosing students is very useful, for a simple and very effective low-tech way then read Harry Fetcher-Wood’s excellent post and make some lolly sticks cards! Harry’s post includes discussion on the fact that this can be contentious; I think the key is to use this technique when appropriate and be very clear that it is OK to be unsure but good to contribute in some way. I let students know that a suitable response includes a question back to me. Another offline option is to use one of Mike Hadden’s many excellent spreadsheets – scroll down to the ‘Other Files’ section for the Random Student spreadsheet, you can easily create a spreadsheet for each class for use with this tool.
(For more on Mike Hadden’s excellent spreadsheets, see this post.)

classtools.net has numerous templates which allow teachers to create diagrams, activities and games. 

Return to the Tools and Calculators series of pages or Lesson Planning.