Participation Challenges
Case Studies,
Large class of 7th and 8th grade students, 9 with IEPs and there is a para in class. The same 3 students are participating in the group discussion. The teacher wants to all students comfortable speaking, that there is no right/wrong answer. Students often respond, “I don’t know” or use inappropriate responses.
Community building
- A lighthearted discussion topic while thanking and encouraging students shows the students that there is low risk, no right/wrong, and to not be intimidated. The topic would aim to help the students get to know one another and bond over commonalities. See https://www.weareteachers.com/fun-icebreaker-questions
- Encourage students to praise each other. Everyone must identify something positive about another (a compliment chain – every student writes a compliment about every peer). Or, assign each student 2-3 peers to praise (specific, character oriented)
Increase Participation
- Randomly select names/sticks from a jar so everyone is called upon. Call the popsicle sticks “equity sticks.” Each student’s name is in the jar twice, so they have two opportunities to answer. If chosen a second time during class and that student is struggling to answer, they could select a stick to pass it to a classmate.
- Popcorn discussion – students choose the next person to talk. Imagine throwing a basketball – instead of only throwing T-S, T-S, T-S, throw it T-S-S-S.
- Keep friends together. Research finds that in collaborative work, friends tend to spend more time on task at a higher cognitive level. An exception is that you don’t want to put antisocial friends together.
- It is OK for some kids to be shy. Oftentimes shy students are high achievers. They have good self-esteem; they just don’t like too much novelty or being at the center of attention. To manage very shy students, give them control of the situation. Let them pace their own approach to novelty. Give them advance warnings of what is to come (e.g., “we’ll be getting in small groups for you to share your opinion”).
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ProsocialEd strategies were developed and studied by the nation’s premiere Prosocial Development & Education Research Lab at the University of Missouri (MU). Based on 50 years of developmental psychology research, we show that how adults interact with children influences their development of self-control, empathy, and prosocial behavior.
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