When you want your students to discuss something as a whole class, get them to pass the talk to each other – basketball style, rather than always have them pass it back to you – ping-pong style.
Image by Hvd69, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
There are several benefits to doing this:
Pupils start to listen to what others are saying.
They look at each other when they speak.
They support or challenge each other’s points.
It gives you as the teacher the opportunity to listen and think about what they are saying.
Whole-class talk from Ping-Pong to Basketball
More on talk/oracy
Can they remember what everyone else said?