Discussion + Participation: A Preview

The Teaching Consultants are preparing for a six-part workshop series about student participation. The first session will be on January 20th form 3-5pm in Surge III.

As we prepare for the workshop series, the TACs have spent some time discussing articles about student participation (citations below). What follows are some of our thoughts about participation. We hope that our workshop participants will be able to spend six weeks thinking carefully about how they define participation in the classroom, what barriers students encounter that may prevent them from participating, and testing various techniques and teaching strategies that might be useful in our classrooms. Here are our thoughts:

• Why do we want students to participate? To improve student learning. However, to know if learning has been achieved, Teach Assistants (TAs) have to be able to measure student learning.
• We, as TAs, judge our classrooms based on who we are, and it can be challenging to think outside of our own frame of reference.
• At times we are not the reason why students are silent, sometimes students are watching each other not just the TA and do not wish to look foolish in front of their peers.
• We must be careful to not generalize about all students if we only have access to a small sample size (one of the papers we discussed has a sample size of five).
• When a TA is considered the authority by students for cultural reasons it might take a long time for students to break away from their own backgrounds and participate in a dialogue where ideas are shared, rather than received.
• What is the difference between participation and discussion: participation is when a student is actively engaged in some way (doesn't have to be talking); discussion is the exchange of ideas, usually vocally.
• TAs should be encouraged to avoid complacency in the classroom.
• TAs should be encouraged to use multiple ways to assess if students are “getting it” and give students multiple venues in which they can express themselves.
• One way to assess participation and/or learning is to ask students to write a one page reflection on their own participation and comment on other “good” examples of participation.
• Establishing a respectful classroom is key for helping students feel comfortable in writing peer-reviews
• "This is not about me, this is your classroom!" This is a mantra TAs should consider adopting.
• "Participation is good for you!" Even if it makes a student uncomfortable, the act itself can be helpful.
• TAs should justify and explain why they are doing something, or asking something of their students.
• Create an environment where students will be comfortable and not penalized for saying "I don’t have anything to say"
• However, be prepared for strong personalities who will say what’s on their mind regardless of the consequences.
• Let people know they’re going to get called on. This takes away the complete element of surprise.
• Tell people everyone has to speak once during a class period day, even a wrong answer is useful, The TA doesn't necessarily know everything. And it's also fine for the TA to show vulnerability and say "I don't know."
• There is a lot of power in doing an example incorrectly and having student “correct” the TA.

This is only the beginning of what we hope is a lengthy and fruitful discussion about student participation. We hope that our workshop participants will share their own insights and opinions with us over the next six weeks. As always, feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comment section of every blog post!