Encourage Increased Student Participation

Ideas to Increase the Participation Level of All Students

Jun 9, 2009

Helping every student answer questions in class goes further than simple wait time for many teachers.

When teaching a lesson, the more student participation, the better the grades for that particular lesson. Unfortunately many students prefer to stay in the background and not participate despite the teacher's best intentions. Here are some ways for teachers to encourage 100% participation from their students.

Class Participation Using All Hands Raised

Asking a question that does not have one right answer provides opportunities to require all students to have an answer. Tell the students that you expect them to all come up with the best answer they can to your question and to raise their hand once they are ready with their answer. Then once all hands are up, begin calling on students for answers. Make sure to call on several students when employing this strategy.

Participating with Thumbs

Have students use their thumbs to participate. Thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs sideways is a subtle but effective method of getting all students to participate. This is a great way to allow students to vote on something, or to quickly reinforce or review something without having to call on any particular student. At a glance the teacher will be able to tell who is on target and who needs additional work.

Equal Student Response Methods

Calling on the same students who are quick to raise their hands allows other students to sit back and not bother to come up with answers to questions. Here are some methods to equalize and randomize the students who are called upon to answer questions in class.

Names from a Hat: Write down each student's name on a slip of paper and keep them in a hat or basket or other container. Whenever you want to call upon a student to answer a question, pull a name from the hat. This ensures that students are prepared and on their toes.

Use a List: Calling names off of a list will ensure that every student gets a chance to answer questions. Randomizing the list each week and checking off names as students answer questions will help make sure that everyone has an equal chance.

Wrap Around the Class: Beginning at one end of the class, call on students in order. Students should be allowed the opportunity to pass or answer the question. This will ensure that every student has opportunity to answer a question. Be sure to return to those students who passed so that they have the opportunity to answer a question as well.

Encouraging whole class participation is essential to having a well rounded class where everyone is learning. Answering questions aloud in class provides teachers with invaluable data as to whether students are comprehending the lesson. This feedback will help a teacher make a snap decision to review additional material or jump ahead. By having all students participate, this decision making process will be more effective.

The copyright of the article Encourage Increased Student Participation in New Teacher Support is owned by Jennifer Wagaman. Permission to republish Encourage Increased Student Participation in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.