One Instructor's Method for Class Participation

Contributed by Craig Derscheid, Instructor of Speech and Journalism/Film

I feel this is a very important part of the classroom environment. I tell my students that this is a way to let me know what they are thinking about and maybe just to ask questions. But what is the right amount of participation?

Sometimes you have students who love to dominate the discussion. I tell my students that after they have made three comments each, they can take a break and let the other students give me their insight through discussion. But what happens sometimes is that you may have complete silence.

At that point, I will call on specific students to get involved in the discussion.

In my film classes, students are not necessarily giving right or wrong answers but using the terms we talk about in class to analyze the film. This is a little easier than if they have to give a right or wrong answer. If I can't get the students to speak up at all, I remind them as I stated at the beginning of the semester I need to have them participate in discussions. If we can't get a good discussion going, I will have them write a one page type written paper about what we should be discussing and give them 10 points for writing an accurate analysis of the film just viewed. This works sometimes but not always to help them to participate.

These are just a few thoughts on getting students to participate in class discussion, which, for my teaching style, is very important. Do you have problems with participation? What are your helpful tips for us to learn from?