Colored popsicle sticks are a great way to create randomized questioning for your students as well as a cue for your style of questioning. Teachers are usually provided with a large amount of academic data for each student. My suggestion is to color code your students based on academic needs. Colored popsicle sticks usually come in six colors: orange, blue, green, yellow, purple and red.

Here is a suggestion for six categories for your colored popsicle sticks:

Special Ed.

ESL (English as a Second Language)

(English as a Second Language) Dyslexia

Retained

ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)

(Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) Failed standardized test during the previous year

Assign the colors to fit the needs of your classroom and the academic needs of your students. Write the names of the students on the respective colored popsicle stick. During lessons you can randomly select a popsicle stick from your popsicle bucket or you can select a colored popsicle stick that represents a group of students you want to evaluate. Since the students know you may select their popsicle stick the result is they pay more attention to the material and retain the content because they want to be sure they know the answers if they are randomly called on. Trust me, it works! Be sure to adapt your style of questioning in a way that fits the academic needs of the respective student that was chosen. Once the year goes on the color cues will become easier for you and the students will be more keen and aware of the content.

Variation

Another option for assigning colors is to use a simple high, medium, low standard. You will only need three colors for this option.

Example:

Red - low scores.

- low scores. Yellow - medium scores.

- medium scores. Green - high scores.

The advantage of this variation comes with the creation of peer groups. It has been found if groups contain three levels of understanding the lower student is more apt to learn from the medium and high student. Also, the higher student will not feel frustrated with the low student because the medium student balances the group. I have applied this technique in the classroom and have found that my low students gain understanding and confidence when grouped with a slightly higher level student.