How to Make EVERYONE Participate in Class? - Page 2

letty21 · #11 02-27-2009, 09:50 AM

It's true alot of students don't like reading in class or evening talk a little bit in front of the class. When your student is about to read in front of the class, it feel great to be in a group standing up togther, its a group thing and each student needs to say something. When i was in school i didn't like going up with out my group, it was fun having my classmate up with me, and than the next week it was not so hard for me any more and i got in front of everyone and it was not hard any more.

The other thing i will do is, if each student gets up and answers the question right or wrong i will make a goody bag and tell my students, i am very proud of you. Its hard to talk in front of the class, but teacher care about what they say and will love to hear what they are thinking, it doesnt matter if the answer is wrong, what matter is that you got up and talk about the questions, that is what i will tell my students.

letty21 · #12 02-27-2009, 09:56 AM

It's true alot of students don't like reading in class or evening talk a little bit in front of the class. When your student is about to read in front of the class, it feel great to be in a group standing up togther, its a group thing and each student needs to say something. When i was in school i didn't like going up with out my group, it was fun having my classmate up with me, and than the next week it was not so hard for me any more and i got in front of everyone and it was not hard any more.

The other thing i will do is, if each student gets up and answers the question right or wrong i will make a goody bag and tell my students, i am very proud of you. Its hard to talk in front of the class, but teacher care about what they say and will love to hear what they are thinking, it doesnt matter if the answer is wrong, what matter is that you got up and talk about the questions, that is what i will tell my students.

newteacher08 · #13 02-28-2009, 08:31 AM

I use sticks with the students names on them also and just pull sticks.....I am in elementary though so I don't have many problems with students not wanting to answer....they want to participate a little too much!

PowerTeacher · #14 02-28-2009, 09:31 AM

I am with smalltown. To make sure both partners are talking you can use the Teach-OK with the SWITCH! added.

Loomistrout · #15 03-04-2009, 01:47 AM

Random sticks, cards etc. which several have suggested are excellent ideas. When I was in teacher training we had a unit, Questioning Strategies, which examined group discussions, who gets called on, think time, etc.

Think time as suggested by Miz Liz helps many shy and less confident to participate. It also helps to keep Smarty Pants from always blurting out an answer or waving. Tell students to sit on their hands. You will ask class a question but no one is to raise hand to respond until you signal. Ask and wait ten seconds - count silently.

Still, some may not respond like shy, Larry. Call on Larry to choose someone else in the room to answer question - say, "Larry, I want you to pick a quiet hand to answer."

Don't want to leave Smarty Pants out so when Larry chooses a classmate announce to Smarty that you want him/her to paraphrase classmate's answer.

Boards - If you really want to get full class participation consider small dry erase boards or paper and have class "show me your answer" after think time.

Suppose you get a kid when called on goes "I don't know" or "Huh?" or "What?" -- that smart allecky response designed to get them out of the lesson. Don't let them bail. Also, don't want to embarrass them. Say, "Larry, I want you to find the answer. It's on page 64. I'll come back to you." Go on to other students with other questions and back to Larry when he has had time to find answer.

kguzman · #16 03-04-2009, 04:59 AM

Maybe you should make your delivery of instruction more interesting for your students. You can use activities that would require your students to think and at the same time enjoy what they are doing. Playing games may also be used to acquire student participation. Another is by using reinforcement, use rewards or praises to motivate them.

You can also try using a Cooperative Learning Approach wherein students work in groups or teams to help each other learn (Think-Pair-Share, as mentioned, is one example of structure under Cooperative Learning). Another example is the Roundrobin wherein each student in turn shares something with his or her teammates.

These are just few things you can do to acquire student participation/involvement. Hope it helps! Good Luck!

Guzman, Kara
Bachelor of Elementary Education Major in Special Education
University of Santo Tomas

nayelismom · #17 03-07-2009, 01:12 PM

It depends what grade. You can't MAKE any kid participate. If you just go with whoever raises their hand, you'll have those kids who'll fall through the cracks. I use the sticks because I have third graders. However, in high school, some of my teachers made participation a part of your grade and every six weeks you had to have a certain number of participation points in order to get the maximum grade for participation. I had some college professors do that as well.

Brendan · #18 03-07-2009, 02:14 PM

Participation is a tough area for me. My class has many discussion, debates, socratic seminars, etc. for me it difficult to force the quiet students to talk. It seems to me that if I did that I would be punishing them for their personality. However, I will give students a 0 during graded discussions if they do not speak (debates and socratic seminars mostly) because I tell them ahead of time that they must do so.

Bumble · #19 03-07-2009, 05:57 PM

I give table stars to the groups who have the highest participation. When I only see 1 or 2 hands go up I say, "I guess we only have 2 smart kids in this class." Both of these work very well for me.

AKTeacher · #20 04-23-2009, 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iheart5thgrade

Give the kids a chance to talk in pairs. Just walk around and listen to the pairs talk. Don't worry that when it is whole-class some kids don't speak outloud because I bet soon they will talk outloud.

Case in point--I have my quietest student ever this year. When she and her neighbor would share together I would have to lean over her desk to hear what she was saying to him. After a few months, all of sudden she raised her hand in class to answer a question. I was astonished. Now she raises her hand at least a couple of times a week. That's great improvement.

I like putting students together in pairs to discuss things-- I have an extremely shy group of students though, and sometimes when I try this neither of the two really says anything. Have you ever had this happen? Do you have any suggestions on ways to convince *two* really shy students to discuss something?