The Fist

Fist of Five. It's a new thing I learned at the workshop yesterday. You can use Fist of Five to pre-assess student knowledge about upcoming units. Say you'll be teaching about the Civil War. Before you start, just hold up your fist and say, "Fist of Five. Five means you know all the causes and effects of the Civil War. Zero means you've never even heard of it." When students hold up a continuum of fingers you can use that info for unit planning purposes.
I used Fist of Five about 200 times last night.
"Fist of Five, Pizza for dinner."
"Fist of Five, Quality of our days."
"Fist of Five, Interest in answering the telephone."

Sadly, the fam, for the most part, would not get into my Fist of Five Fervor. Teendaughter on occasion would hold up a few fingers while reading her book. #1 son just flat out said, "No" every time I pointed to him for a Fist of Five. Husbandman ignored the entire project.
Yet, I soldiered on with Fist of Five, using the technique at every turn.