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During whole-class talk moments, if you start your teacher questions with words like ‘Who can…?’, you’re suggesting that you want volunteers to respond.
But you’ll probably notice it’s usually the same children who volunteer.
Consider other ways of phrasing your questions, to get everyone participating:
Instead of: Who would like to read out our question?
Try: Read out the question please, Jake. (You know Jake is a competent reader. But he might not have raised his hand to volunteer.)
Instead of: Can anyone remember what we did last week in geography?
Try: Everyone look back at what we did last week. [Give them a moment to do that.] Tell us something we learnt about coastlines [pause] Nadia.
Instead of: Who wants to share what you spoke about with your partner?
Try: [Use a randomiser to choose someone] Stevie, tell us the main idea that you and Kaylah spoke about.
Instead of: Who can tell me what story we are reading?
Try: Agatha, What story are we reading? (Give Agatha silent thinking time, so she can think and respond. This might be a planned low stakes opportunity for Agatha so she has opportunities to practise speaking in front of others.)
Instead of: Does anyone know what season we are in now?
Try: Adam, you told me this morning that you know what season it is now. Please help everyone else by reminding them.
It is useful occasionally to ask for volunteers, but if your goal is to involve every child in the learning, this should be the exception rather than the rule.
