It’s great for formative assessment (individual or whole group) and you get much more honest answers than you would if you flipped it by asking “stand up if you think.” since some students will prefer to stay seated and others take the opportunity to stand up no matter what.Ĭons: It can be a little tricky to ask anything with a high Depth of Knowledge, since you want all students to respond at once, so it can be a little shallow, although you can deepen it by asking students to “defend” their decision to sit or stand by providing reasoning.Įxample:“Hey Madonna, in two minutes I’m going to ask you to identify figurative language in this paragraph.a review class, figurative language is….” (Two minutes later)“Ok, Madonna, you’re up. I always do several in a row as well, starting with something silly, such as “Everybody stand up….now sit down if you can’t wait until lunchtime” or something similar.

No complicated directions, just a chance to stand up and stretch. Pros: I love doing this when the students desperately need to move, and they almost always do. Tired of the same 3-4 kids always raising their hands to answer questions in class? Want to get a few more (or even all!) students involved in answering questions? Try some of these and let us know how they go!Įxample: “Everybody stand up! Now, sit down if you think the solution on the board is correct” or “sit down if you would have agreed with Hamilton’s plan.”

Hands on vs hands off question