Motivation to interact during presentations
I give a lot of professional development presentations in class. Some students ask questions and participate in the discussion/role playing, but trying to get the entire class to join in can be a challenge. Should I develop a few sets of role playing activities to give the students the power of choice when it comes to getting involved?
I heavily encourage class participation. I allow my students to choose a topic related to the course to present orally. In a criminal justice class, each student brings in a current event and chooses an infamous criminal to research and present on. The current event presentation is short so it gets the student comfortable speaking in front of the class. The paper presentation is lengthy but I allow them to bring in a power point to guide them (not read from). They tend to be excited about their topic of choice and are eager to answer questions about their subject. By the end of the semester just about everyone in the class is participating and having fun.
Amy, different students have different comfort levels in how they participate. Some like to be in front of a group and are extroverted while others like to be behind the scenes and are introverted. You first need to have discussions with your students and find out their various preferences. If the area of study requires all students to be more extroverted then your lesson plans will need to include exercises to bring them to the front of the class in more comfortable settings. You first need to know the makeup of your students and then develop lesson plans and exercises that match their abilities. I hope this helps.
James Jackson
