Summer Refinement Series, Part 3: Refining Cold Call as a Cognitive Support

Welcome back to my Summer Refinement Series!

If you didn’t already know, this summer I am sharing a series of posts on the instructional refinements I will be focusing on for the upcoming school year. These refinements emerged from reflecting on my practice and thinking about how evidence from cognitive science and the science of learning can better inform my curriculum and explicit instruction.

The three areas of refinement are:

• Automating Knowledge for Future Use and Learning

• Sequencing Curriculum for Cognitive Coherence

• Routines as Cognitive Supports

In previous posts, I explored how I am making my Africa unit, and ultimately all of my units, more knowledge-rich through improved curriculum sequencing and coherence. I also shared how I plan to strengthen retrieval practice and spaced practice through the use of student created Cornell Knowledge Organizers.

This post focuses on the third area of refinement: routines as cognitive supports.

Refinement Area #3: Routines as Cognitive Supports

Over the past couple years, I have come to think differently about classroom routines. I used to view routines primarily as tools for classroom management, efficiency, and participation. While they certainly serve those purposes, I now see them more as tools that can support learning itself.

When designed and implemented intentionally, routines can help students focus their attention, reduce extraneous cognitive load, retrieve information from memory, connect new information to prior knowledge, and think more deeply about content. In other words, good routines do more than organize classrooms. They support the cognitive processes that make learning possible and meaningful.

Cold call is one routine I have increasingly come to view through this lens.

Rethinking My Use of Cold Call

When I began using cold call more consistently last year, I viewed it primarily as a participation strategy.

I wanted more students involved in discussions. I wanted to move beyond hearing from the same handful of volunteers. Those goals were worthwhile, and cold call certainly helped accomplish them.

But as the year progressed, and as I spent more time reading and thinking about attention, retrieval, and memory, I began to realize that I had been underselling what cold call could do. I had been using it primarily as a way to get more students to participate. I now want to use it as a way to get more students to think more frequently.

That shift in perspective has led me to identify three refinements I want to make in my own practice next year. I believe they have the potential to significantly increase the amount of attention, thinking, retrieval, and learning taking place in my classroom.

A Case Study on Women’s Roles in Development

Throughout this post, I will use examples from a case study in my aforementioned newly knowledge-rich Africa unit focused on the role women play in local economic development.

In this case study, students learn how women in the rural village of Sanankoroni, Mali used a multifunctional platform, a machine capable of grinding peanuts, generating electricity, pumping water, and performing other tasks, to improve their quality of life. Students also learn about the role of microcredit organizations and the ways increased access to technology and entrepreneurship created new opportunities for women, families, and communities.

Cold Call Refinement #1: From Calling on Students to Inviting Students

One thing I noticed about my own cold calling last year was that it could sometimes feel transactional. I would ask a question and then immediately call on a student. This year, I want to be more invitational and conversational with how I call on students.

Instead of:

“How did the multifunctional platform improve life in Sanankoroni, Emma?”

I will use:

“How did the multifunctional platform improve life in Sanankoroni?”

Pause.

“Can you get us started, Emma?”

Or:

“Why do you think access to the machine led to more girls attending school?”

Pause.

“I’d love to hear your thinking, Noah.”

The question itself remains the same, but the message changes. Rather than communicating, “It’s your turn to answer,” I want to communicate, “Your thinking and voice matters.” While this may seem like a minor detail, I believe it can help create a classroom culture where students see themselves as contributors to learning rather than simply respondents to teacher questions. If students increasingly feel that their thinking and ideas matter, and that being called on is not a “gotcha” moment, they may become more motivated to stay attentive and think ahead—regardless of whether they are ultimately called upon.

Cold Call Refinement #2: From Immediate Responses to Deliberate Pauses

Another thing which stood out in my cold call routine was how quickly I responded after students answered. A student would respond and I would immediately evaluate, clarify, expand, or move on to the next question. Looking back, I realize I was often doing a lot of the cognitive work for the class. This year, I want to build in a deliberate three-second pause after hearing a student’s response.

For example:

“How did the multifunctional platform help women in Mali earn more income?”

Pause for three seconds.

“Emma?”

Student: “The machine saved them time so they could start businesses and earn money.”

Pause for three seconds.

Those few seconds create space for other students to think about the response they just heard instead of shifting their attention and thinking to what I am saying. They can compare it to their own answer. They can evaluate whether they agree. They can retrieve additional information from memory to build upon the response. They can consider what they might disagree with. Last year, I often treated the student’s answer as the end of the thinking. This year, I want the student’s answer to become the beginning of more thinking. These three seconds provide an opportunity for more students to think deliberately about what they just heard, strengthening the memories they are retrieving and the connections they are making. They also help keep students’ attention focused on their classmates’ ideas rather than shifting back to me.

Cold Call Refinement #3: From Responding to Me to Responding to One Another

Another characteristic I identified about my cold call discussions last year was that most followed a predictable pattern. I asked a question. A student answered. I responded. Then I moved on to the next question. While students were participating, many of the conversations were still primarily happening between me and individual students. This year, I want to use cold call more intentionally to connect students to one another’s thinking. After a student responds, rather than immediately jumping in myself, I want to regularly invite another student to respond to what they heard.

During our case study on women microentrepreneurs in Mali, this might sound like:

“Emma argued that the biggest benefit of the multifunctional platform was giving women more time. What do you think about Emma’s idea?”

Pause for three seconds.

“Bryce?”

Or:

“Noah suggested that access to microcredit was just as important as the machine itself. How can you build on his thinking?”

Pause for three seconds.

“Sophia?”

Or:

“Jackson argued that the machine improved quality of life because it increased income. Do you agree, disagree, or want to add another benefit discussed in the reading?”

Pause for three seconds.

“Olivia?”

As I reflected on my teaching this year, I realized that students often listened most carefully when they knew they might be asked to respond to a classmate’s contribution. Instead of simply waiting for the next question or to be called on, they had a reason to attend to what was being said. These moments also create additional opportunities for retrieval and elaboration. Students must recall what a classmate said, connect it to what they already know, and explain their own thinking. Last year, many of my cold calls focused on getting students to answer my questions. This year, I want more of my cold calls to help students think about one another’s ideas in comparison to their own.

What This Might Look Like in Sequence

To illustrate how these refinements work together, imagine we are discussing our case study on women microentrepreneurs in Mali.

Me: “What do you think was the most significant impact of the multifunctional platform on life in Sanankoroni?”

I pause three seconds to allow students time to think.

Me: “Will you get us started, Zooey?”

Zooey: “I think the biggest impact was saving women time because they no longer had to spend days grinding peanuts by hand.”

I pause for three seconds.

Me: “Zooey claim that the biggest impact was saving women time. What do you think about her perspective?”

I pause for three seconds.

Me: “I’d love to hear your thoughts, Alvin.”

Alvin: “I agree, but I think the extra time mattered because it allowed women to start businesses and earn more money.”

I pause for three seconds.

Me: “Alvin argues that the additional time created new economic opportunities for women. What evidence from the text best supports that claim?”

I pause for three seconds.

Me: “Noah?”

Noah: “The reading said household income increased because women were able to earn money from businesses like peanut grinding.”

In less than a minute, students have retrieved information from memory, listened to one another’s ideas, built on those ideas, and supported claims with evidence from the text. That is ultimately what I want my use of cold call to accomplish. Not simply getting students to answer questions. Getting more students thinking more about important ideas and new information they are learning while maintaining high levels of attention and retrieval.

Why These Refinements Matter

What I find increasingly compelling about cold call is how it reflects a bigger change in my thinking about classroom routines. A year ago, I largely viewed cold call as a way to increase participation. Today, I see it as a routine that can support attention, retrieval, listening, and thinking. Inviting students into the conversation encourages broader participation in thinking and listening not just talking. Pausing after responses gives students time to process and evaluate ideas. Asking students to respond to one another’s contributions encourages active listening, retrieval, and elaboration. None of these refinements are groundbreaking. They are small adjustments to a routine I already use every day. But increasingly, I have come to believe that small refinements to high-frequency routines can often have a large impact on learning. I now view cold call as a necessary routine, not a luxury one. Not because it forces more students to participate, but because it gets more students thinking and paying attention more often. If attention and thinking are prerequisites for learning, then routines that increase both deserve a central place in our classrooms.

References

Barton, C. (2025). The Tips for Teachers guide to cold call. Independently published.

Rosenshine, B. (2012). Principles of instruction: Research-based strategies that all teachers should know. American Educator, 36(1), 12–19, 39.

Ruiz Martín, H. (2024). How Do We Learn? A scientific approach to learning and teaching. Jossey-Bass.