In a previous blog, a teacher posed a question about getting her students to participate in discussions.

She shared her experiences in trying the strategies suggested by our colleagues and her reflections on the results:

I have already implemented pair-share strategies, and students varied in their willingness to talk to each other. I found at this point that the girls were quieter when paired with the boys. I must say that the boys are not aggressive or demeaning, and really supportive of other students, so …direct intimidation was not evident.

I had one girl willing to participate at the beginning, but she tended to back off after a period of time. I got the sense she was feeling like others are not speaking up, so perhaps she shouldn’t either. There was another girl who, although very quiet, [became] willing to talk.

I tried to divide the room for a week between boys and girls so that the pair-share could be done with same gender. This was only mildly successful. But it gave me the opportunity, to meet with the girls to encourage them and listen to the discussion. I found they were still very quiet and seemed to be “afraid” to be wrong and did not want to risk speaking, even with their female peers. But it was better. After pair-share, I would open it up to allow the whole class to talk and when I asked for volunteers to share a certain answer based on their pair-share, all the boys hand went up and the girls just looked across the room and kept their hands down.

I did ask one student, outside of class, if she might be willing to try to volunteer more, as when I did call on her, she usually had something to say. I told her that I need some role models, and I thought she could help. The next day she did volunteer. I am also going to speak to the girl who started and then stopped to encourage her directly. 

I am now planning on changing seats again, based on personalities, and strengths to mix them back up and continue to try. I plan on starting with the suggested strategy about a small group in which students each have to take turns talking, then summarizing what the next person said, then sharing more and then the whole group decides to see who will share with the class. I will try this twice during the class, and a different person has to do the sharing part.

The hard part is I want to be able to get a pulse on their understanding as we go along, but with half the room not willing to share their answers, I never know where they stand. I do use the thumbs up and thumbs down technique to get some answers and this helps a little, but I still see the girls look toward the boys to confirm their decision of the “right” answer. 

So the pair-shares have been going a bit better, but there still is hesitation. I have started calling on students who did not raise their hands (I told them ahead of time) during pair share, so they could be sure they had something to say. This helped a bit. Boosting self-esteem is a piece I am going to work on, too. I think this is going to be a yearlong project. I need to break through layers of issues, but I will keep trying.

L. is using a process called action research,* a systematic approach to address the situation in her classroom:

• Identify a situation or problem
• Gather information to identify possible actions or solutions (student background, more on the context of the situation, suggestions from the literature, or recommendations from colleagues)
• Take action based on the information
• Collect and analyze data
• Reflect on the results
• Develop an action plan to address the situation or identify a need for further research

For more on the action research process:

• What is Action Research? New Mexico State University
• Action Research
• Action Research for Teachers

There was a suggestion for L. to try “Round Robin Journaling.” The April/May 2014 issue of Science & Children had the article Assessments in the Arguments with a description of this strategy.)

For more on class participation:

• Encouraging Class Participation—How can you provide opportunities for all students to participate in a discussion?
• Participation Rubric—What do we mean by “participation?”
• Gallery Walks—How can they be used for discussion and feedback?

Photo:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/rongyos/2686415336/