Being able to balance student participation and teacher talk is a fine art of communication during reading discussions. How do you prevent students from all shouting all at once, and yet you want them to give their opinions?
-If asking for an answer to a question, explain beforehand that they need to explain WHY or HOW they found the answer. This will stop students from shouting out answers without thinking. (Thanks to the class teacher for suggesting this).
-If a discussion gets out of hand, say "We are too noisy" - get all the students to settle down before continuing the discussion. Stay in control.
-Avoid rhetorical or extremely easy questioning. Students become unsure if you are asking for an answer or not.
-Instead of saying "Who agrees with _____", say "If you agree with ______, raise your hand."
-If a student doesn't give the answer you are looking for.
Paperclips idea - To encourage even participation, give each student a set number of paperclips. To encourage fair participation, each student MUST use up their paperclips by the end of the class. If they've run out of paperclips, they cannot answer more questions.
Other suggestions?
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