Different Ways to Call on Students in the Classroom

In my class, we have a lot of examples we do together as a whole class. As I have noticed through the first couple of weeks of school the same few students will always have their hand raised up high to answer the questions. Even the "easy" questions are only answered by those students. I was surfing the internet and found a couple of different ways to call on students in the classroom.



1) Popsicle sticks: write the students names onto Popsicle sticks and pull out a name when you need a different student to answer the question.

2) "Calling on a different student" : the teacher would call on an arbitrary student and that student will be allowed to call onto the next students to answer the question. Once the students has been called on, they can not be called on again until everyone in the class has had a turn to answer a question.

3) "Phone a friend": This allows the students that you cold called who do not know the answer to the question to phone a friend. This allows the students to help each other out and do not feel pressure if they do not know the answer.

4) "Think, Pair, Share": The students will be give a couple of seconds to think of an answer to the question. Then they will look to their partner and share what they thought the answer was. Then the teacher can call onto one of the students in a group to share the answer they think is correct to the whole class.

I would love to figure out what technique works for my future students. If you have different ways to call on students in the classroom, please comment below. I would love to hear your way :)