Hi Angela, Thanks for sharing some good suggestions for getting participation in questioning! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Advise them at the beginning of class to have at least 1 question to ask, have them break out into pairs of two and prepare questions that can be posed to the class
Dr. Fu-Sen, So often they all have the same questions but, as you state, are afraid to ask.
Susan Polick
Hi Jeanette, Yes, group work is much less intimidating. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Oftentimes there are always students who are more inclined to ask questions during questioning session while other students remain quiet. In order to involve all students in the questioning sessions, instructors may ask all students to write down one question to ask during the questioning section. In order to prevent anxiety for the shyer students, the questions can all be passed to the instructor to present instead of having the student present it in front of the entire class. Furthermore, the anonymous questioning would also help students ask questions they otherwise would not have asked because the question might be judged as a stupid question. This should help create a more open-dialogue as well as involve all students during the questioning sessions.
I have broken students into small groups and have them work on finding the answers to questions together. Then after some time, I will call on a student from a group and ask what they put as their answer. Because they worked as a group to find the answer, the student I called upon is not too embarrassed if the answer was wrong.
Break students up into smaller groups so that do not feel singled out if they do not know the answer to your question or they are afraid of being judged by the whole class. You can work with each small group and the students can work together to learn the material
I always struggle with how to reach the non responsive students. thanks for this great info. i will try this out!
It is important not to embarrass a non responsive student, and also not to let one student answer all the questions. Sometimes putting students into groups first to discuss between themselves and then have the whole class discuss helps everyone feel able to participate.
Hello Regina:
Teaching night classes can be a challenge. I try to start my first class off with a little ice-breaker to allow the students to become engaged before we begin the class. That allows me to learn them and they in return learn about me.
Minnie Glover
One way to get students involved is to ask them what they think of other student's responses. An instructor can also ask them directly. If the whole class seems confused, the instructor can rephrase it or ask what is confusing to make there is no conclusion.
Hi Phil, Thanks for sharing an important observation!
Susan Polick
I find the question of how to involve the whole class in discussions and questioning to be a very significant issue for my classes. I can easily forget that some students are not involved verbally, because I am so delighted with a sometimes animated (though respectful) discussion. I have to check myself and I have to actually pay attention to those who are silent. I may believe they are learning, but how much?
One thing that I like to do is directly ask a student. Call the individual by name and directly ask them a question.
Tom
H Wendy, Thanks for your post to the forum. Students of all ages do enjoy games that make learning more fun! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
I use a "nerf" type ball that the students and I toss back and forth. This is used to designate which student is to answer a question. I use a baseball analogy while doing this. I make sure that my students know that, just like in baseball, you'll never know whether or not you can hit the ball if you never take a swing.
Make a game out of it. Make the session almost like a Jeopardy and provide rewards for the winning team (2-person). Set the quiet students up with another person who have been active in the class.
I have found that student's will engage in any subject in which they are knowledgeable. An instructor can ask students to share with the class their interests, ambitions, and goals. This is a good way of getting quiet students involved in class participation.
Hi Damon, You are running an interactive classroom - excellent!
Susan Polick
I will call on students directly to answer questions, yet I make them feel safe to get it wrong by still providing positive encouragement. Also, I dont have many non-responsive students; because I format lectures as structured conversations with the class that everyone is invited to interject.
