Is your classroom talk Ping-Pong or Basketball?

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