All the Way Right

The steps

1. Listen to the whole answer before you respond. Work out which part is right and which is missing. Much of the rounding up happens in the first second after a student stops talking.
2. Credit the right part precisely. Say what is correct, in a full sentence:
   The cause you've given is right.
   The student needs to know how close they are before you ask for more.
3. Say it is not complete, and stay warm.
   Nearly there. What's missing?
   Your tone should suggest that the rest is clearly within reach.
4. Give one pointer, then wait. If the question draws a blank, narrow the search:
   Check the second half of the definition.
   Then leave at least three seconds of silence (Wait Time).
5. Ask the same student for the complete answer. Once the missing piece surfaces, ask them to put the whole thing together:
   Good. Now the full answer, start to finish.
   The finished version should be spoken aloud by the student, in their own words.
6. Hold the same standard for everyone. Ask your most confident students for complete answers as often as anyone else. The class tends to work out where the bar sits within days.

How you’ll know it’s working

• Exchanges over nearly-right answers end with the student saying the complete version rather than hearing yours.
• After "what's missing?" there is a genuine pause while the student searches, and you allow it to stand.
• Film a lesson and count how often you complete an answer on a student's behalf. Over two or three weeks the count should fall towards zero.
• First attempts grow longer: students begin to include the second half of an answer before anyone asks for it.

Weigh it up

Why it’s worth it

• The class's definition of "finished" changes. Once fragments stop earning full credit, students stop offering them, and first answers tend to become more complete within weeks.
• The student who was nearly right does the remaining thinking. Every answer completed on a student's behalf is practice they did not get.
• You collect sharper assessment information. A rounded-up answer is recorded as understanding in your head and in the student's; a held answer shows you exactly which half is missing, while there is still lesson time left to fix it.
• The version the class hears, repeats and writes down is the complete one, so notes and books end up carrying full answers.
• It communicates high expectations in a way students can feel. The expectancy research suggests that students tend to move towards what their teachers visibly expect, and holding out for completeness makes that expectation concrete several times a lesson.

The costs

• It is slower than accepting an answer and moving on. Each held answer adds twenty or thirty seconds, so choose the questions where completeness genuinely matters.
• It keeps a nearly-right student in the spotlight for longer, and in the early weeks some students find that harder than being plainly wrong. The specific credit in step 2 is what makes the experience bearable.
• It demands precise subject knowledge at speed: you have to know what a complete answer contains, on your feet, every time. A fuzzy definition of your own gets exposed as well.