Hi Patrick- Yes, students do really enjoy relating their own expereinces to the concepts at hand. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Keeping students engaged is important. I ask questions to get them involved. Ask what experiences they have on the subject. this gets the class flowing with questions.
Hi Kelly- Thanks for your post to the forum. You are using some great techniques to get essential feedback! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Hi Georgie- Thanks for your post to the forum. Starting with simpler questions will certainly get more participation. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
When I have a group of shy students, there are two questioning techniques that have worked for me over the past few years:
1. Pass out index cards and ask students to write their questions on the cards and I collected them mid-class during the break (and discuss after the break) and again at the end of class (to be discussed at the beginning of the following class).
2. I hand out a one page sheet at the end of every other class where students have to briefly summarize what they learned over the past two classes and then list what topics they would like additional clarification on.
I don't want students to memorize - they have it for the test and then they forget it and don't know really how to apply the information.
I am partial to pictures in powerpoints and tend to ask students if they can identify a particular instrument or object and then expand on that question with uses of that object for more class participation
I have each student prepare a question and drop it into a bowl. Then I let each student pull a question from the bowl and give him/her the chance to answer it. I usually put it in the form of a game and they become extremely competetive and really try hard to answer their question.
ASK THE QUESTIONS THAT ARE THE MOST COMMON THEN MOVE TO THE HARDER ONES
Hi Carmen - Getting your students comfortable enough to easily participate in questioning sessions is excellent! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I love this method becuase it keeps all the students participating with no regrets to be putting on a spot
Hi Linda- Thanks for sharing a good idea to encourage participation! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I have included questions on power point slides and sometimes I will start the discussion out with a braintease question or scramble a new vocabulary word on the slide or on the board. The students begin to work as a team to solve the questions and move with ease into the subject matter for the day.
I try to use questions that may have more then one "right" answer in order to encourage discussion. After a student gives an answer, I try to redirect it to another student with" sounds good, but what about this senario?" Not only does this encourage student participation, it acknowledges that often there are several correct ways to approach a problem.
Hi Rita- facilitating discussions is indeed an art! Susan
Great, comfortable way to get good participation!
I usually as questions that may have several answers. "Name a brand's tagline" for instance. I readily have a few to start off and ask if there are other examples other than mine.
I try to make any question I ask the class fall somewhere between broad enough to get a discussion going but specific enough to make that discussion relevant to the class. Still, as other posters have indicated, students sometimes hesitate--no one ever wants to go first!--and if the pause gets too lengthy, I'll either rephrase the question or perhaps partially answer it myself. Usually that's enough to get something started, and with my encouragement, we can get a good discussion going.
Hi Petulah - Thanks for your post to the forum. Having students relate concepts that they are learning to their own personal experiences is always very effective. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I introduce thought provoking questions that are related to the topic in discussion. I would encourage students to be in groups to enable them to pool together a question that they really would like to know or even as a challenge to another group.
