For Teachers

Get Students in the Game

Engage inattentive students and increase their participation in the classroom with these fun strategies for offering answers.

A whiteboard with markers to help children manage time and not be late for school
Whiteboard with dry-erase markers

Teachers always have students in their classrooms who are inattentive. The following four methods increase student participation and response:

1. Use choral responses. Have students read short passages or lines from a textbook in unison. Have the whole class review math facts by asking them to respond to flash cards you hold up, or project on a PowerPoint, at varying rates.

2. Try pre-made response cards. When the teacher poses questions, students select their answer by holding up a pre-printed response card. Teachers can create cards with a few possible answers on it. Students place a clothespin on their answer and hold up the card when cued to do so.

3. Use a dry-erase board. Ask the class a question, pause for thinking time, and have students write their answers on individual dry-erase boards. After the teacher says, “Boards Up,” students hold up their boards for the teacher to assess who needs help.

4. “Finger” the correct answer. Teachers pose multiple-choice questions, with the choices written on the board, and signal students to hold up the number of fingers that correspond with the correct answer.