"Raise Your hand" - A road sign

​The teacher asks a question.  She expects the children to raise their hands to answer.  A few years back, I read about a teacher who had a “no hand raising policy.”  I can’t remember exactly what the piece said.  But I remember thinking – I like this.  Kids don’t always have to raise their hands to answer questions.  I didn’t use the hand raising practice all the time during instruction.  So the no hand raising system made sense to me, and I became more purposeful in what I was doing with questions and answering.

My students already did choral responses.  This is where I would ask a question, and all the kids could respond with the answer together.  This provides a safety net for students when answering.  Looking at the group I could take note of those who were not responding or gave the wrong answer.  No attention was brought to the individual students, but I made a note of it in my mind.

I also made a practice of calling on individual students – no raising of hands.  All children were expected to contribute; students knew they would be called upon for their thinking in all subject areas – every day.  They did not mind.  Why?  Number one – I practiced wait time.  Children were given time to think about what I was asking and were given time to make connections in their brains.  If I thought the answer was not what I expected, I continued to question so I could see their thinking.  Often times, I would even say – “Ohhhh, now I see your thinking!”  They began to understand when I said, “Let me see your thinking.”  Which actually meant - explain further.  After all the questioning, the last resort was that students could say – pass.  Again I made a mental note, and did not chastise for using the pass.  Sometimes kids would say, “I don’t know.”  Again, I would question.  The point is – all students (even those of varying abilities) were expected to share their thinking.

The most important reason I liked the no hand raising policy was that I liked discussion.  Discussions had a flow when a student would respond and then another student and another student.  It was a “conversation” that emerged.  Socratic seminars (a form of discussion) can be taught to students.  I have read up on this practice – but have not actually implemented this practice in its pure form.

Were there ever times when I had children raise their hands?  Yes – there were still times when I had children raise their hands.  But for the most part, my classroom was a no hands raised classroom.  When I am with a group of friends, I don’t raise my hand to speak.  I have to admit I never liked it in professional development when I had to raise my hand.  It’s just something to think about.
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BEcky