Get Your Students Hired
I find that when I do question a student they know more than they realize which does make them want to participate more.
I ask multiple questions in my lecture. I find it does help to keep students engaged in the topic - especially related to personal experiences that they can apply to their own lives.
Hi Lori - Yes, when students feel comfortable with each other they do interact much more. Most of my college's programs have cohorts of students that remain together for a full two years. The support they give each other is inspiring to witness! Susan
Open ended questions are a good way to get a discussion started. What would you do scenerios seem to work well or what advice would you give... are good. I think the more comfortable the class members feel with each other the more easy it is for them to particiapte so it is a good idea to use some ice breakers and get to know you activities in the very first class.
Hi Donna- Thanks for your post to the forum. One of the courses that I teach is Effective Speech and as we all know speaking in public is for many people their greatest fear. ( For some people even more than death, according to surveys!) I always have the first required speech be a Self-Introduction speech. As I tell my students "YOU are a topic that you know the best!" It seems to work as they generally are more confident for the other speeches they must deliver. Best wishes - Susan
Hi Joyce- Thanks for your post to the forum. Unfortunately I have seen students drop out because they felt embarrassed by an answer they may have given that was ridiculed by a classmate (or even worse) an instructor! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I ask for life examples. People love to tell their stories. It also lets me know if they are understanding the material.
Students need to feel safe in class before any questioning can be successful. If they feel you or the class is judging their worth based on their questions or replys to your questions nothing will make them willing participants. Making it OK to be wrong is very important.
I try to get them to use their personal experiences (if applicable) to break the ice. Most people can talk about themselves. Once the students see that people are interested in what they have to say, it becomes easier to participate.
One way to get student to participate that I have tried is give points for class participation along with positive feedback.
Grouping students together using the socatic method can bring out all sorts of new ideas and answers to questions.Then they can draw the most workable responses to the questions for the specific question.
Hi Ashley- Thanks for your post to the forum. I also use a "Question Box" and do find some pretty good questions in it some days. Interesting how often it turns out that other students were wondering about the same thing.... Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Usually an excellent way to generate participation and allow students to hear other viewpoints they may not have considered.
In previous teaching situations, I have found that having a question box was helpful. It allowed for students to be able to ask questions without attention being drawn to them. This helps especially if a student is anxious about asking a question.
Hi Christopher- Thanks for your post to the forum.Your questioning strategy leads your students to a higher level of thinking which as you mention will serve them well as they move within their careers. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Since I teach specialized core classes, the students within it already have an invested interest in the topic (e.g. game development). As such, I tend to refer to questions in which they know the answer from one perspective (e.g. as the consumer) and spin it to make them think about it from another perspecitve (e.g. the developer); forcing them to answer business questions from their consumer knowledge.
Hi Lisa- It's so importnat to call on students by their name. I guess that's one of the perks of teaching smaller classes. I can't imagine what it's like teaching in a huge 400+ student lecture hall! Best wishes - Susan
I like to use a think-pair-share approach to class discussions in which students can bounce their ideas for contributions to discussions off a single classmate and develop and refine what they'd like to say during large group discussion prior to doing so.