Memo 6

     Keep Calm and Speak On:

A Closer Look at the Strategies that Incite Student Participation at the Secondary Level

Purpose

This study researches how an educator can inspire high school students to participate and have meaningful discussions within a classroom setting. I will analyze the strategies that can promote discussions and help students develop the intrinsic motivation required to engage in meaningful classroom conversations on a volunteer basis. I hope to minimize the number of students who choose to seldom volunteer during discussions as well as decrease the frequency of cursory conversations within the classroom. I will explore students’ levels of engagement by my own classroom based observations, including keeping track of the frequency of participation for each student, as well as the extensiveness of each conversations, by formally assessing students level of engagement through socratic seminars, and by allowing students to self-reflect on their own class contribution.

Questions

My goals for this research includes developing a classroom climate which promotes speaking  skills, critical thinking, and engagement amongst students. An overarching goal for this research includes finding strategies that insight student participation in order to help create a social learning environment. I intend to discover new ways to inspire even the most reluctant speakers to volunteer their insights during classroom discussions. During class discussions, learning is more likely to take place when there are multiple viewpoints and participants, which is why the goal of this study is to find the best way to entice all students to join the conversation without enforcing punitive measures.

Introduce the research questions.

Primary Question: How can I inspire students to participate during class discussions?

    Which strategies improve participation within a classroom?

    Does class community improve participation?

    How can I increase collaboration within small groups?

    What causes students to resist speaking and sharing their ideas in class?

   

Conceptual Foundation

The education culture in America is changing. Technology is taking over the world today. In schools across the nation, data shows that computers are playing a major role in education. Many schools offer 1:1 programs that enable each student to use a personal computer to replace textbooks, notebooks, and even writing utensils. Although technology has its advantages, many scholars argue that communication skills are being lost during this transition. Students today are so used to expressing themselves through text messages and social media that they often neglect face-to-face conversations. Discourse is a powerful learning tool that should not be replaced in the classroom, regardless of technological advances.

Classrooms across America are not made up of homogeneity, but rather feature students with diverse cultures and opinions. Discourse within a classroom helps students explore a variety of perspectives while showing respect for student voices and experiences. Discussions help students express their own opinions in order to discover skills of synthesis and integration. These skills are needed in life. Learning these skills while listening to classmates’ voices will help students understand the process of democratic discourse.

When students participate in class discussions,  it can help them realize and investigate their own assumptions. This will lead to intellectual achievements. It is important to learn through communication, which can happen naturally during collaboration. For these reasons, it is crucial to help find strategies that encourage students to volunteer during classroom discourse. This will lead to a vibrant classroom environment where learning and discoveries await.

Scholarship

There have been several scholars in the field who have inspired me to conduct this study. “Classroom Participation and Discussion Effectiveness: Student-Generated Strategies” (2004)by Elise J. Dallimore, Julie Hertenstein, and Marjorie Platt has helped me to realize several strategies that can improve class participation. These authors confirmed that “cold calling” a student for an answer is a successfully way to ensure that students are prepared for class and engaged in the lesson. The authors also helped me to realize that a supportive classroom environment, including my own facilitation, can increase student participation. In other words, asking the “right” questions will significantly affect students’ willingness to respond.

In addition, I also am inspired by Noreen M. Webb’s work, “The Teacher’s Role in Promoting Collaborative Dialogue in the Classroom” (2009). Webb’s work outlines the ways that teachers can positively impact a classroom culture, including participation levels. “The Teacher’s Role in Promoting Collaborative Dialogue in the Classroom” examines the way that teachers can increase discussions and collaboration within small groups. This is something that I am also interested in since my students often work together for assignments. Webb notes that students need to be prepared for collaborative work. This includes having the educator provide clear instructions on how to communicate, which is an important step that is often overlooked. Webb notes that expectations and relationships between peers and teachers can also impact participation.

Lastly, I admire the work of scholar Neil Mercer, who is a professor of Education and psychologist at the University of Cambridge. He wrote the article, “Classroom Dialogue and the Teacher’s Professional Role” (2008). Mercer notes that children need social interactions, which some students lack within their home lives. Mercer stresses the important of creating a classroom environment where teachers provide opportunities for discussions, specifically discourse that gives everyone a chance to speak and build off of each other’s ideas. “Exploratory talk” is first modeled by teachers and then performed within small groups. Classroom guidelines are also put in place to help stir the discussions. Mercer encourages explicit guidance from teachers to help students use discussions as a way to problem solve. The skills Mercer describes can work successfully at any grade level.

Data Collection

I plan to collect my data by keeping track of the number of times each student participates, while noting the authenticity and complexity of each response. I will organize this data by keeping a roster on my clipboard which will allow me to check off each time a student participates and rate the comments between 1-5 depending on the quality of the response. I will keep track of the frequency and quality of the responses before implementing strategies, which I will then compare the data to see if participation and engagement has increased.

References (APA style)

Dallimore, E. J., Hertenstein, J. H., & Platt, M. B. (2004). Classroom participation and        discussion effectiveness: student-generated strategies. Communication Education, 53(1), 103-115.

Mercer, N. (2008). Classroom dialogue and the teacher's professional role. Education Review, 21(1), 60-65.

Webb, N. M. (2009). The teacher's role in promoting collaborative dialogue in the classroom. British Journal Of Educational Psychology, 79(1), 1-28.