Taking Roll: An Instructional Innovation

Would you appreciate an instructional method that
both encourages students to attend class regularly and
to respond to questions? We looked for one and found
it. taking roll.

Taking roll regularly is one way to encourage
students to attend class. It demonstrates that we value
attendance, that attendance records are kept and
absences are noted.

As well, most people like to hear their names
spoken. It takes only three to five minutes to call the
roll aloud, and calling each student's name by taking
roll helps us become familiar with them—no small
trick when you have classes of 100 or more.

The Added Objective

In addition to encouraging attendance, we want to
encourage full class participation. Students are often
reluctant to respond to questioning in class. Research
findings document that a student who doesn’t respond
toa question during the first three weeks of class
probably won’t respond to a question for the rest of the
semester. Therefore, we want students responding
carly on, and so we combine taking roll with breaking
the ice.

The Strategy
Once we've established the seriousness of the course
(the first and second day of class) by reviewing the
syllabus, pre-testing, etc., we tell students that they are
to answer the roll, which will be taken daily, by re-
sponding to a general question posed at the beginning
of class. Initially, the questions are “safe” and rela-
tively nonthreatening:
* “What's your major and where are you from?”
e “What's your favorite food?”
¢ “If you could change places with anyone, who
would it be?”
Any response is acceptable, and minimum positive
comments are made by the instructor. It takes approxi-
mately seven to ten minutes to call roll in this fashion.
As the semester progresses, so does the self-divulg-
ing nature of the questions:
* “What's your favorite television program?”
¢ “If you had to give a book as a gift, what book
would you choose?”
e “What's your greatest fear?”
* “What is one thing you wish your parents or
roommate would do?”
* “What would constitute a ‘perfect’ date for you?”

 

* “When is the last time you cried in front of another
person?”

¢ “If you could ask anyone three questions and
receive an honest answer, who would you ask and
what would you ask?”

e “If you could ask your best friend three questions
about yourself and receive an honest answer, what
three questions would you ask?”

Besides encouraging students and creating a shar-
ing, accepting environment, the questions can direct
the students’ thinking. For example:

* Lead in to the lecture on population: “If you could
change any area of American socicty, what would
it be?” “Do you agree with Thomas Malthus?”

* Lead in toa review of punctuation: “If you could
gain one punctuation skill, what would it be?”

* Lead in to a chemistry lecture: “What chemical
reaction that occurs in your daily life do you value
most?”

After a few classes, the students begin to anticipate
the questions. They also have suggestions for ques-
tions, often with more depth than the instructor
anticipated. (An excellent source is Gregory Stock’s
The Book of Questions.)

Instructional Payoffs

Having students respond to a question as part of
taking roll helps break the instructor-student silence
barrier. Students now respond to content questions
more comfortably, more eagerly and more often. We
think some students come to class just to hear the day’s
question and their classmates’ responses. In any case,
they come to class more often, on time and respond in
class more often. Taking roll has become an activity to
which we all look forward.

 

Robert N. Boll, Division Chairperson, Humanities

Betty Parkman, Instructor, Psychology, Sociology and
English

For further information, contact the authors at New
Mexico Junior College, 5317 Lovington Highway,
Hobbs, NM 88240.

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor

September 9, 1988, Vol. X, No. 18

©The University of Texas at Austin, 1988
Further duplication is permitted by MEMBER
institutions for their own personnel.

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