WGUs

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WGUs Classroom Tip of the Month How to
Increase Student Participation
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Defining Participation
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What is Classroom Participation?

• If an immediate answer popped in your headgood
  for you! You are definitely in the minority.
  For the majority of teachers this topic is always
  one for contention.
• Should participation be a part of a students
  grade?
• Should the teacher grade it objectively or
  should he/she have
• documentation to support the students scores?
• Is it enough for the student to just raise
  his/her hand?
• What if the student is shy, yet knows the
  material?
• Should poor social/public speaking skills be
  penalized?
• If the student isnt participating, how do I
  know he/she understands the material?
• I recommend you pause the presentation at this
  point and self-reflect on the questions above
  before moving on

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What does Participation look like?

• Post reflection, you may have thought of one or
  more of the following
• The student is on time and has his/her necessary
  class materials.
• The student actively raises his /her hand and
  participates in class.
• The student is respectful of his/her classmates
  and of me.
• The student completes all his/her homework
  assignments.

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How do I encourage participation?

• Now that you have thought about your approach to
  participation, it is important that you recognize
  your responsibility to your students before you
  consider issuing a grade in this area
• Have you created a safe environment where
  students arent afraid to participate and share
  their ideas?
• Do you ask good questions (think Blooms
  Taxonomy) that require thought, not just factual
  recall?

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How do I encourage participation? (cont.)

• Have you considered cultural attitudes toward
  teachers that might affect the way some students
  respond to you?
• Have you created (and enforced) class rules that
  let all students know you are a student advocate
  and that all student contributions are valued and
  appreciated?
• Do you correct students incorrect responses with
  dignity or do you inadvertently move on to the
  one you can count on to give you the right
  answer?

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How do I encourage participation? (cont.)

• Have you developed a fair, consistent
  participation policy?
• Have you posted it in your classroom?
• Is it in your syllabus or class rules?
• Have you created opportunities for all students
  to contribute by using differentiated instruction
  in your lesson plans?

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The good and bad news is that there is no right
or wrong answer to these questions/statements.
Each teacher must individually decide what is
fair for their students, keeping their content
area in mind. For example, a foreign language
teacher will place more emphasis on verbal
participation than perhaps, a reading teacher. It
is important that you feel comfortable with
whatever system you develop and that you are
consistent when using it. Lastly, make sure you
read your school participation policy, if one
exists.
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Participation Strategies
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Participation Strategies

• Know your students names for personalized
  attention.
• Make eye contact with them to validate their
  responses.
• Ask for new hands! This might sound silly and
  simple, but sometimes it does work. Some students
  are used to remaining silent because they know
  other students will raise their hand and theyll
  answer. Simply inviting students to participate
  just might do the trick.

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Participation Strategies (cont.)

• Allow enough wait time after asking a question.
  Give students enough time to process the question
  and prepare a response before you expect them to
  answer.
• Create pair/share activities where students work
  with one other person to share their thoughts,
  written work or ideas. Working with one person
  is much less intimidating to shy students who are
  afraid of public speaking.

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Participation Alternatives
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Participation Alternatives

• Create a post-it note wall/bulletin board.
  Students who are afraid to raise their hand
  during class can put their question up on the
  wall as they leave class . You collect the post
  it notes and make sure you answer their question
  in tomorrows class period.
• Provide class discussion questions in advance.
  Students can take the material home, work on
  their responses and be prepared to participate in
  tomorrows lesson.

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Participation Motivators
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Participation Motivators

• Talk with quiet students privately and encourage
  them to participate more. Encourage them to start
  out raising their hand once per class. Praise
  their efforts.
• Work the room during group work and provide
  encouragement to silent students as you
  eavesdrop.
• When students are engaged in partner/group work,
  alternate students in the recorder/spokesperson
  role so all students become comfortable with
  their classmates.

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Participation Motivators (cont.)

• Promote a monthly Participation Award and have
  the prize be something worthwhile. (i.e. free
  lunch in the cafeteria, gift certificates to
  local food establishments, free homework pass,
  etc.) Be creative and involve local businesses in
  your plans. Some will give you free coupons that
  you can award to your students. Most students
  will be motivated just by a free homework pass,
  so use that to your advantage!

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Participation Motivators (cont.)

• Develop unique, fair ways to cold call on your
  students. Cold calling is when you call on
  students whose hands are not raised. If you
  havent done this in the past and have only
  called on the hand raisers, students might
  fight you on this idea. Therefore, you need to
  develop random ways to execute your cold calling
  that is fair across the board.

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Cold Calling Ideas

• Buy a bag of popsicle sticks at your local craft
  store. Put each students name on a stick and
  put them name side down in a small bucket/pail.
  Pull a stick out for each question you ask and
  call on that student. Place used popsicle
  sticks back in the pail upside down at the end of
  the class, so you know who got their turn today
  and whose turn it is tomorrow.

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Cold Calling Ideas

• Assign each student a number at the beginning of
  the year. Make sure they use that number for
  everything labeling their papers, their
  textbooks, their homework, etc. Make a group of
  numbers cards (i.e. 1 through 35) and randomly
  pull out numbers to call on students. If I call
  your number, its your turn to answer.

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Participation Problems
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Potential Participation Problems

• Require students to raise their hand. Do not
  allow shout outs from students without
  consequences.
• Make sure you continue to call on the over
  achiever. Even if his/her hand is up for every
  question, make sure you dont ignore them.
  Likewise, dont call on them for every question,
  either.

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Potential Participation Problems (cont.)

• Correct inappropriate comments/ridiculing
  immediately. If a student cannot answer your
  question after youve called on him/her and
  another student makes a comment about his
  inability to do so, you must take immediate
  action. Remind the students that it is safe to
  make a mistake in this class and that all
  contributions are valued and appreciated. Require
  the student to make a public apology to the
  offended student. If you dont handle this
  situation immediately, the embarrassed student
  will never feel safe to participate in your
  classroom, again.

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Grading Participation
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Participation Grading Ideas

• Do a random book/materials check. Award students
  points for having their materials and supplies.
  Likewise, offer some extra credit opportunities
  that month so students who lost those points have
  the chance to make them up.
• Attach a transparency to your seating chart each
  month. Each time a student participates in
  class, make a check mark. Assuming each month has
  an average of 20 school days, make your
  participation grade 20 points for that month and
  assign each student their grade (the amount of
  checkmarks on the seating chart).

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Questions or Comments

• If you have any comments or questions about this
  presentation, please contact Marcella Ryan, WGU
  TC Alumni Mentor, at mryan1_at_wgu.edu
• Please visit our WGU Teacher Blog and share your
  tips and ideas at www.alumni.wgu.edu. Click on
  Teachers College and then choose Teacher Blog
  to post your ideas.