I don't like mornings. My Mom used to tease me because I didn't really communicate using words until about 9:30am. So last Thursday I tried an experiment. It was morning, I didn't really want to talk, so I wanted to see if I could go an entire class without talking and see if anyone noticed. I learned two things, 1) I cannot go more than an hour without voicing my opinions, and 2) there is a sense of invisibility when nobody acknowledges your silence. Perhaps one of those influences the other, but either way it was a bit of an eye opening experience for me.
I've never really understood why the "quiet kids" felt uncomfortable raising their hand. As my experiment proved, I am quite comfortable with it, and often feel compelled to contribute to class discussion. However, I think it is important that every student be given a voice in the classroom. I do not want any student in my class to be able to go an entire class without saying or contributing something to the conversation. There are lots of ways to facilitate this. Small group discussion is probably the easiest, but not necessarily the most effective. Even though there were two group discussions during my hour of silence, I managed to go silent through one (the other broke me when I disagreed with a point someone made, I couldn't help myself). My other group members could fill the silence, and nobody directly posed questions or comments to me. I felt very much replaceable. The group did not need me to be successful, it seemed that they would complete the task just as well without me, if not better, than
they would with me.
Sharing in pairs definitely forces both of the pair to share, though this could be potentially nerve racking for the student. Often think-pair-shares are done quickly, and there sometimes isn't enough time to gather thoughts before sharing. I can understand how a student with social anxiety might be uncomfortable sharing with a peer they do not know well. However, in this method they get immediate feedback from the other in the pair, who can validate and acknowledge whatever they have to say.
A third way students can voice their opinions is through writing, such as exit slips or response journals. However, these can only be shared with the one person who reads them, and often this person is the teacher. If the teacher does not provide feedback, I do not think the student gets the same sense of validation for their thoughts and ideas as they would through a conversation. To be heard, you have to have an active and engaged listener, and this is not always achieved through writing.
I think any way you tackle this issue, there is no 100% effective outcome, but that is not going to stop me trying to make my students feel heard.
I've never really understood why the "quiet kids" felt uncomfortable raising their hand. As my experiment proved, I am quite comfortable with it, and often feel compelled to contribute to class discussion. However, I think it is important that every student be given a voice in the classroom. I do not want any student in my class to be able to go an entire class without saying or contributing something to the conversation. There are lots of ways to facilitate this. Small group discussion is probably the easiest, but not necessarily the most effective. Even though there were two group discussions during my hour of silence, I managed to go silent through one (the other broke me when I disagreed with a point someone made, I couldn't help myself). My other group members could fill the silence, and nobody directly posed questions or comments to me. I felt very much replaceable. The group did not need me to be successful, it seemed that they would complete the task just as well without me, if not better, than
they would with me.
Sharing in pairs definitely forces both of the pair to share, though this could be potentially nerve racking for the student. Often think-pair-shares are done quickly, and there sometimes isn't enough time to gather thoughts before sharing. I can understand how a student with social anxiety might be uncomfortable sharing with a peer they do not know well. However, in this method they get immediate feedback from the other in the pair, who can validate and acknowledge whatever they have to say.
A third way students can voice their opinions is through writing, such as exit slips or response journals. However, these can only be shared with the one person who reads them, and often this person is the teacher. If the teacher does not provide feedback, I do not think the student gets the same sense of validation for their thoughts and ideas as they would through a conversation. To be heard, you have to have an active and engaged listener, and this is not always achieved through writing.
I think any way you tackle this issue, there is no 100% effective outcome, but that is not going to stop me trying to make my students feel heard.