“Does anyone have any questions?” If you’ve asked this question in the classroom, you know that what often follows are blank stares, awkward silence, maybe a half-hearted question or two (if you’re lucky). At a recent CTL Workshop, Dr. J.D. Thomas, assistant dean, undergraduate education, offered these practical tips on how faculty can get students talking and ensure that everyone has a chance to participate.
Think First, Share Later
You’ve likely heard of think-pair-share activities, but if you haven’t, here’s how they work. Instead of asking a question and then waiting for someone in the classroom to answer, do this instead. Pose a question to the class, ask everyone to take 30 seconds and jot down a quick answer to that question, then ask your students to turn to a nearby partner to discuss their answers. Now that you’ve primed your students to engage in the question-answering process, you can call on individuals or groups of students since everyone will have a ready answer of some kind. For students with social anxiety, this process ensures they’ll have something to share without the anxiety that comes with on-the-spot questions. Want some variety? You can do think-share or pair-share activities, which will accomplish the same goal but in slightly different ways.
Ask for More
Even when students participate in think-pair-share activities, they’ll often answer your questions with surface-level responses at first. If a student says something that could be discussed in more detail, don’t rush to take over. Instead, try immediately asking them questions such as “What do you mean?” or “Could you say more about that?” To show your interest, you can add a note of positivity by saying something like this: “That’s interesting. Could you say more about that?” or “I like where you’re going with this, but could you explain a bit more?” This will encourage students to go beyond their initial point and answer your original question with more detail and nuance. Notice any body language from nearby students, such a nodding or smiling or head shaking? This is a great opportunity to pivot from one student to the next — and thus move the conversation around the classroom — by asking the second student to elaborate or respond to the first student’s comment.
Ask Specific Questions to Specific People
Have you ever witnessed what researchers refer to as the “consolidation of authority” in your classroom? This happens when one particularly energetic student (or even a small handful of students) answers most questions you pose to the class. The more this happens, the more it encourages other students to remain quiet since they know that the question-answering student will always raise their hand. We love when students willingly answer questions, but this can become a problem if it’s the same student or coterie of students doing so every time since we won’t get a variety of different viewpoints. Using the recommendations above, you can avoid this problem by creating a classroom environment that encourages more, if not most, of your students to participate in the questions-answering process.