September, 1987

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The Teaching Professor

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Successful Participation Strategies

Try these tactics when you are asking

students questions:
I) Start asking questions early in the

course. All sorts of norms as to acceptable
and unacceptable behavior in a given course
get set during those first few class ses-
sions, If students learn they can wait you
out, by silence convince you to answer your
own questions, they will try hard to make
you do that during the rest of the semester.
But if you refuse to cave in (or do so only
on rare occasions with magnificent protest-

 

uations. Look at it from a student's perspec-
tive. If you can get the answer straight from
the horse's mouth, then you can dutifully
record it, confidently knowing that you have
the right answer. Students will wait a long
time in exchange for this kind of security.

Try these tactics when you're dealing

with student answers to your questions:

1) Praise right answers. Don't make a
big deal over the student; that will cause
embarrassment in the presence of peers. But
praise the answer. "That was a good connec-
tion you drew between the historical and
political implications." So often, really
commendable student efforts get little more

 

ation), you convey the mes-
sage that you take question-
ing seriously and are deter-
mined to get answers,

2) Wait for the answer.
We suspect most faculty
don't. There is evidence that
elementary teachers wait on
the average about one second.
That same research docu-
ments that when wait time
increased to between three
and five seconds, length of
responses increased, fail-

 

The silence seems long, awk- -
ward and uncomfortable, but
endure it. Wait patiently, smile,
relax, and look as though you
believe with all your heart that
someone will help you out.

than a token "yes."

2) Be careful responding
to wrong answers, Don't be
dishonest by pretending the
answer is right when it is
not. Some instructors do
this by not dealing with the
answer. They comment,
"Interesting. Anyone else
have an idea?" Upon hearing
the desired answer, the
instructor then responds. And
so, "interesting" becomes a
polite way of saying "wrong."

 

 

ures to respond decreased,
and frequeney of student
questions increased, among other findings.
Obviously, we must be cautious when
generalizing these findings to university
faculty, but for verification we encourage
you to check yourself and others you might
observe teaching. Granted, the silence seems
long, awkward and uncomfortable, but endure
it. Wait patiently, smile, relax, andlook as
though you believe with all your heart that
Someone will help you out.

3) Ask only one question at a time.
Sometimes in an effort to generate a re-
Sponse, instructors attempt to clarify a
question by rephrasing it. That's fine so
long as the question remains the same.

Often it does not. We have a great example
on videotape where in the space of 28 seconds
an instructor asks four questions. Upon writ-
ing those questions down word for word, we
discovered substantive differences, Students

do not understand that an instructor will

take an answer, any answer. They feel con-
fused because they can't figure out what the
instructor wants.

4) Don't answer the question, or do
answer only in the most desperate of sit-

 

We advocate more direct
honesty, but at the same
time admonish instructors to beware.
Students feel vulnerable when they answer in
the presence of the professor and their
peers. Even slight nuances in tone of voice
or facial expressions can be devastating
put-downs. Most professors don't call an-
swers or students stupid, but many commun-
icate that that's precisely what they think
about an answer and the individual who of-
fered it. Be assured that if you put students
down, you will watch participation levels
plummet -- guaranteed!

3) Encourage more than one answer. Do
that by not commenting on every student com-
ment. No law says that for every student
comment, there must be a response of equal
(if not longer) duration. Collect a number
of student comments. Condense and combine
them, relating portions to each other.

4) Encourage a variety of students to
participate. Occasionally one student
(sometimes more than one) loves to
participate. Ask a question, any question,
and you can bet on her hand being first in
the air. You and the class grow weary.
Confront the student -- preferably in private