Working with Quiet Students

In-class discussions can help students develop critical thinking skills, but effective discussions require structure and planning.

Garside, C. (1996). Look who's talking: A comparison of lecture and group discussion teaching strategies in developing critical thinking skills.

Related tips:
Facilitating In-Class Discussions: Facilitating a Coherent Discussion
Facilitating In-Class Discussions: Picking Good Discussion Topics
Facilitating In-Class Discussions: Working with Oversharers

Look for common problems that arise in class discussions to determine which intervention is best.

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Use tips for building a classroom community to ensure students feel comfortable contributing to discussion.

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Incentivize contributing to in-class discussion to reduce the stigma or fear of making in class contributions.

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Explain why participating in discussion is important to focus students’ attention on its many benefits and thereby motivate them to increase their participation.

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Create a safe classroom environment where you can call on students in a random order to ensure everyone has the opportunity to contribute equally.

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Ask students to track and report whether or not they have participated to ensure all students participate.

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Use in-class writing tasks or small group discussion to prime students for discussion.

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Post discussion questions online before class to allow shy and/or introverted students to prepare comments.

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Specify how students should indicate they want to speak to make it easier for quiet students to contribute to the discussion.

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Post discussion questions online before class or assign reading responses or pre-class quizzes to ensure students come to class prepared and you learn what would be best to focus class discussion on.

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