My Favorite No

Excellence in Education: My Favorite No

My Favorite No is an instructional strategy that combines formative assessment and feedback. It can be used as a starter, during learning, or as an exit activity. 

1. Each student gets an index card to work on a class-wide problem. 
2. After a set amount of time, the cards are collected and quickly reviewed by the teacher (right/wrong)
3. The teacher then selects one of the wrong answers to become the "Favorite No."
4. Teacher writes/copies the student work without identifying the student's name.  Teacher share
5. Teacher says something along the lines of "This is my favorite no. What has the person done right? Where did mistakes occur? Be ready to explain and justify. 
6. Talk about what is right as a class. This can be a powerful discussion tool. Alternatively, students can do this in groups. 
7. After examining what is right, dissect what the student got wrong. 
8. End with a positive affirmation statement like "We can definitely see why this problem tripped some of us up. Together we were able to do some great work to help our classmate."

Why? 

• Even those with wrong answers, include correct information. Even the little focus on the "what's right" builds student confidence. 
• It creates dialogue and meaning as well as providing feedback. 
• It can build a growth mindset in students by enforcing "not yet," and that mistakes are nothing more than a learning opportunity and by working on the incorrect answer in groups or as a class, it shows students that we're all in this together. 
• By talking through the problem, learning becomes visible. 

Tweaks

• While My Favorite No was created for use in a math class, it lends itself to any closed-answer type of question with multiple parts to the answer. What are five reasons...What is the difference between...Why did...

The instructional strategy was shared on Teaching Channel https://learn.teachingchannel.com/video/class-warm-up-routine 

What are some instructional strategies you use to provide timely feedback to students and instill a growth mindset in our students? 

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