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Individualized Education Program - Wikipedia

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The Individualized Education Program, also called the IEP, is a document that is developed for each public school child who needs special education. The IEP is created through a team effort, reviewed periodically. In the United States, this program is known as an Individualized Education Program (IEP), and similarly in Canada it is referred to as an Individualized Education Plan or a Special Education Plan (SEP).

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Brain-Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom

About

Many teachers in regular classrooms feel unprepared to teach students with learning disabilities. Fortunately, brain research has confirmed that strategies benefiting learners with special challenges are suited for engaging and stimulating all learners. In this book, neurologist and classroom teacher Judy Willis explains that we can best help students by putting in place strategies, accommodations, and interventions that provide developmentally and academically appropriate challenges to suit the needs, gifts, and goals of each student. Brain-Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom will help teachers

Table of contents

Looking into Multiple Intelligence Brains

Teaching Students with Attention Disorders

ASCD empowers educators to achieve excellence in learning, teaching, and leading so that every child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

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Brain-Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom

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Brain-Friendly Strategies for the Inclusion Classroom About Many teachers in regular classrooms feel unprepared to teach students with learning disabilities. Fortunately, brain research has confirmed that strategies benefiting learners with special challenges are suited for engaging and stimulating all learners.

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This add-in for a OneNote Class Notebook, opened in OneNote 2013 or 2016, enables teachers to save time and work even more efficiently with their Class Notebooks.

To download the add-in go to http://www.onenote.com/classnotebook.

For Help and Support, visit the Class Notebook add-in Support page or send a mail to classnbk@microsoft.com.

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Class Notebook

When the Class Notebook add-in is installed, you'll find the Class Notebook tab in OneNote 2013 or 2016.

Install Class Notebook for OneNote 2013 or 2016

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Distribute Pages and Content

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Each of these buttons launches a browser to access the Class Notebook app in Office 365. You would then manage each of the functions in Class Notebook online.

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IT Administrators can deploy the Class Notebook Add-in broadly across a school or district. Instructions on how to do this can be found on the Download Center at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=51934.

To deploy the Class Notebook Add-in with specific LMS or SIS information pre-configured for teachers, please visit the Group Policy page at https://aka.ms/classnotebookaddingrouppolicy.

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Most recent release

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Class Notebook add-in for OneNote instructions

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This add-in for a OneNote Class Notebook, opened in OneNote 2013 or 2016, enables teachers to save time and work even more efficiently with their Class Notebooks. To download the add-in go to http://www.onenote.com/classnotebook. For Help and Support, visit the Class Notebook add-in Support page or send a mail to classnbk@microsoft.com.

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Steps To Insure Support Is Provided To All Class Members During An Assignment 

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Steps To Insure Support Is Provided To All Class Members During An Assignment 

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(Some sections adapted from Davis, 1993; Brookfield and Preskill, 1999)

Discussions can be an excellent strategy for enhancing student motivation, fostering intellectual agility, and encouraging democratic habits. They create opportunities for students to practice and sharpen a number of skills, including the ability to articulate and defend positions, consider different points of view, and enlist and evaluate evidence.

While discussions provide avenues for exploration and discovery, leading a discussion can be anxiety-producing: discussions are, by their nature, unpredictable, and require us as instructors to surrender a certain degree of control over the flow of information. Fortunately, careful planning can help us ensure that discussions are lively without being chaotic and exploratory without losing focus. When planning a discussion, it is helpful to consider not only cognitive, but also social/emotional, and physical factors that can either foster or inhibit the productive exchange of ideas.

Determine and communicate learning objectives

Plan a strategy

Ask good questions

Provide direction and maintain focus

Bring closure

Demonstrate relevance

Encourage participation

Make high-quality participation "count"

Evaluate the discussion

Cognitive Factors

Determine and communicate learning objectives

For discussions to accomplish something valuable, they must have a purpose. Consider your goals for each discussion. How do the ideas and information to be discussed fit into the course as a whole? What skills, knowledge, perspectives, or sensibilities do you want students to walk away from the discussion with? Your goals for a particular discussion should be consistent with your course objectives and values as an instructor. You might, for example, want students to be able to:

Articulate the arguments made by the authors of two assigned readings and assess the evidence used to support them. Evaluate the arguments alone and in comparison with one another and discuss their contemporary policy implications. Or...

Formulate arguments and counter-arguments for a legal position. Or...

Imagine a particular approach to the design of cities and discuss the impact such a design would have on the lives of people in different socioeconomic categories. Suggest and justify design changes to optimize the benefits for the most number of people.

When you can clearly envision the purpose of the discussion, it is easier to formulate stimulating questions and an appropriate strategy for facilitating the discussion. Communicating your objectives to your students, moreover, helps to focus their thinking and motivate participation.

Plan a strategy

After determining the objectives for your discussion, ask yourself: How will I make sure that students meet these objectives? Plan the discussion out, even if you end up deviating from your plan. Some of the questions to consider when formulating a plan include:

How do I want students to prepare: read a case study? (if so, in class or as homework?) do a team exercise? watch a documentary? reflect on a set of questions?

What questions will I pose to spark or guide discussion? to encourage deeper analysis?

Will I open the discussion to the entire class or ask students to discuss the issue in pairs, small groups, or some combination of the above?

What will I do if students simply aren't participating? If certain students dominate the discussion?

How will I allocate and manage the time I have?

How will I deal with digressions or unanticipated shifts in topic?

How will I correct students' misconceptions or inaccuracies without stifling participation?

How will I (or my students) synthesize the ideas at the end of the class period?

Your answers to these questions will depend on your goals. For example, correcting factual inaccuracies might be critical in some circumstances, less so in others. Digressions may be productive if your primary purpose is to explore connections, and undesirable if the goal of your discussion is more focused.

One of the most important things to consider when formulating a strategy is how to get the discussion jump-started. Davis (1993) and Frederick (1981) provide a number of excellent suggestions.

Ask Good Questions

Good questions are the key to a productive discussion. These include not only the questions you use to jump-start discussion but also the questions you use to probe for deeper analysis, ask for clarification or examples, explore implications, etc. It is helpful to think about the various kinds of questions you might ask and the cognitive skills they require to answer. Davis (1993) lists a range of question types, including:

Exploratory questions: probe facts and basic knowledge

Challenge questions: interrogate assumptions, conclusions or interpretations

Relational questions: ask for comparisons of themes, ideas, or issues

Diagnostic questions: probe motives or causes

Action questions: call for a conclusion or action

Cause-and-effect questions: ask for causal relationships between ideas, actions, or events

Extension questions: expand the discussion

Hypothetical questions: pose a change in the facts or issues

Priority questions: seek to identify the most important issue(s)

Summary questions: elicit synthesis

These question types can be mapped onto Bloom's taxonomy of learning objectives, which shows increasing levels of cognitive complexity as students move from fairly simple tasks (such as recall of information) to more complex tasks (such as synthesis, evaluation, or creation.) While you might frame the entire discussion in terms of a Big Question to grapple with, it is a good general strategy to move from relatively simple, convergent questions (i.e., questions with correct answers, such as "According to this treatise, what is Argentina's historical claim on the Falklands?" or "What kinds of tax cuts does this bill propose?") to more complex, divergent questions (i.e., questions with many valid answers, such as "Why did Argentina invade the Falklands?" or "To what extent would this bill's proposed tax increases resolve the budget deficit?") (exmples from Davis, 1993). Starting with convergent questions helps discussion participants to establish a base of shared knowledge and builds student confidence; it also gives you, the instructor, the opportunity to correct factual inaccuracies or misconceptions before the discussion moves into greater complexity and abstraction. Asking a variety of types of questions can also help to model for students the ways that experts use questions to refine their analyses. For example, an instructor might move an abstract discussion to a concrete level by asking for examples or illustrations, or move a concrete discussion to a broader level by asking students to generate a generalization or implication.

When instructors are nervous that a discussion might flag, they tend to fall prey to some common questioning errors. These include:

Asking too many questions at once: Instructors often make the mistake of asking a string of questions together, e.g., "What do you think the author is trying to say here? Do you agree with him? Is his evidence convincing? Did you like this article?" Students may get confused trying to figure out which question to address first. Asking a number of questions together may also conflate issues you really want to help students distinguish (for example, the author's thesis versus the kinds of evidence he uses to support it).

Asking a question and answering it yourself: We have all had the experience of asking a question only to encounter blank stares and silence. The temptation under these circumstances is to jump in and answer your own question, if only to relieve the uncomfortable silence. Don't assume, though, that students' silence necessarily indicates that they are stumped (or unprepared); sometimes they are simply thinking the question through and formulating an answer. Be careful not to preempt this process by jumping in too early.

Failing to probe or explore the implications of answers: One mistake instructors can make in leading a discussion is not to follow up sufficiently on student contributions. It is important not only to get students talking, but to probe them about their reasoning, ask for evidence, explore the implications of what they say, etc. Follow-up questions push students to think more deeply, to substantiate their claims, and consider the practical impact of particular perspectives.

Asking unconnected questions: In the best discussions, there is a logical progression from question to question so that, ultimately, the discussion tells (or reveals) a story. When you are planning your discussion questions, think about how they fit together.

Asking yes/no or leading questions: Asking questions with a yes/no answer can be the starting point of a good discussion, but only if there is a follow-up question that calls for explanation or substantiation. Otherwise, yes/no questions tend to be conversation-stoppers. By the same token, discussions can stall if the instructor's questions are overly leading, i.e., if there is clearly an answer the instructor wants, and the students' task is simply to guess it, rather than to think for himself.

Ignoring or failing to build on answers: If students do not feel like their voices have weight in discussion, their motivation to participate drops. Thus, it is important to acknowledge student contributions, responding enthusiastically when they are insightful ("That's an excellent point, Sarah; could you elaborate further?") and pointing out when they contain inaccuracies or problematic reasoning ("Take another look at the article, Tranh; is that really what the author is claiming?"). If you do not wish to play such a directive role yourself - and want students to develop the habit of assessing and responding to one another's contributions - you can throw student comments back to the class for evaluation (for example, "Do the rest of you agree with John's recommendation? What would be some possible consequences if this plan of action were followed?")

Provide Direction and Maintain Focus

Discussions tend to be most productive when they have a clear focus. It may be helpful to write out a few questions that the discussion will address, and return to those questions periodically. Also, summarize key issues occasionally as you go and refocus student attention if the discussion seems to be getting off track (for example, "How do the issues that have just been raised relate to the question originally posed?" or "That's an interesting point, Alexis, and one we will return to later in the course.")

While some lulls in discussion are to be expected (while participants are thinking, for example) the instructor must be alert to signs such as these that a discussion is breaking down (Davis, 1993):

Excessive hair-splitting or nit-picking

Repetition of points

Private conversations

Participants taking sides and refusing to compromise

Apathetic participation

If the discussion seems to be flagging, it can help to introduce a new question or alter the task so as to bring a fresh kind of thinking or a different group dynamic to bear. For example, you might switch from discussing an ethical issue in the abstract to a concrete case study, or shift from large-group discussion to small group or pair-work.

Bring Closure

It is important to leave time at the end of the discussion to synthesize the central issues covered, key questions raised, etc. There are a number of ways to synthesize. You could, for example, tell students that one of them (they won't know who in advance) will be asked at the end of every discussion to identify the major issues, concerns and conclusions generated during discussion. You could also ask students individually to write down what they believe was the most important point, the overall conclusion, and/or a question the discussion raised in their mind (these can be collected and serve as the basis of a follow-up lecture or discussion.) You might also provide students with a set of 2 or 3 "take-home" points synthesizing what you thought were the key issues raised in discussion. Synthesizing the discussion is a critical step for linking the discussion to the original learning objectives and demonstrating progress towards meeting those objectives.

Social and Emotional Factors:

Demonstrate Relevance

While students generally enjoy discussions, they may have difficulty recognizing what they gain from participating in them - in contrast with lectures, in which students may take copious notes and have a sense of having covered clearly discernable ground. This can be particularly true for international students from cultures <link to Cultural Variations> in which discussions are not a regular or valued part of the educational curriculum.

It is helpful to tell students up front how you think the skills they gain from participating in discussion will help them in academic and future pursuits. For example: "The ability to articulate and defend a position thoughtfully and respectfully will serve you well in the work world when you are arguing for a particular policy solution or course of action. Discussions for this class will give you the opportunity to practice that skill."

Beyond explaining the relevance of discussion in general, it is a good idea to point out the relevance of particular discussions vis-à-vis contemporary social issues, your students' future plans, etc. For example, "Today we'll be discussing the advantages of Chinese traditional medicine over Western medicine in the treatment of pain and chronic illness. As we talk, think about a conversation with a colleague in medical school and imagine how you would articulate this argument and suggest a productive fusion of both approaches to medicine."

Encourage Participation

Many issues can affect students' willingness to participate in discussions, from cultural background (Are discussion classes new and unfamiliar to them?) to preparedness (Have they done the background work - reading, for example - to prepare for the discussion?) to the kinds of questions asked (Are the questions too difficult or, alternatively, are the answers too obvious?). Below are some strategies that can help encourage meaningful student participation.

Create a discussion climate early.

If you want to use discussion in your class, encourage active student participation from the first day of class <link to first day of class html page>. Plan an icebreaker early in the semester that gets students talking and interacting, preferably while doing an activity that is integral to the content material for the course. Also, create a climate in which students feel comfortable taking intellectual risks: respond to their comments respectfully, even when you correct or challenge them, and make sure (perhaps by establishing clear behavioral ground rules) that their peers do as well.

Require students to prepare for discussion.

Discussions often break down because students simply haven't done the reading or work upon which the discussion is based. Discussions tend to be most productive when students have already done some preparatory work for them. It can be helpful to give assignments to help students to prepare for discussion. This could be a set of questions to answer, a question or two to write, an informal one-page (or paragraph) "reflection" on a reading, film, work of art, etc. Brookfield and Preskill (1999), for example, recommend "structured, critical pre-reading" focused on these kinds of questions:

Epistemological questions probe how an author comes to know or believe something to be true

Experiential questions help the student review the text through the lens of his/her relevant personal experiences

Communicative questions ask how the author conveys meaning and whether the forms clarify or confuse

Political questions ask how the work serves to represent certain interests and challenge others

Preparatory assignments help students focus their reading and their thinking, thus facilitating a higher-quality discussion. It is important to note that assigning preparatory work does not necessarily add significant extra work for the instructor, who can collect student prep assignments, glance over them quickly to assess overall comprehension or to identify questions to address in class, and simply mark them Credit/No Credit.

Get to know your students.

Students are more likely to participate if they feel that they are recognized as individuals. If at all possible, learn your students' names and encourage them to learn and use one another's names. Some faculty members require individual students (or groups of students) to come to their office hours once early in the semester, to get to know them better; others use ice-breaking exercises <link to> early in the semester to lower inhibitions and encourage interaction.

Model exemplary discussion behavior.

Often, students must learn how to enter meaningfully into a discussion. One way to encourage students to engage in the style of intellectual exchange you desire is to model good discussion techniques in your own behavior, using language that demonstrates, among other things:

how to build on another individual's contribution ("As Sunil pointed out...")

how to ask for clarification ("I'm not sure what you mean, Allie. Can you give a concrete example from one of the readings we've had?")

how to disagree politely ("I've got a different take on that issue...")

how to marshal evidence to support a position ("There are three things in the book that led me to this conclusion. They are...")

In the interests of modeling a particular style of intellectual exchange, some instructors invite a colleague to their class and engage in a scholarly discussion or debate for the benefit of their students.

On its own, instructor modeling is not likely to affect student behavior, however. It is also important to explicitly point out the kinds of discussion skills illustrated above and to distinguish high-quality contributions (e.g. claims that are substantiated with evidence, comments which effectively build on other student comments) from lower-quality contributions (e.g. unsubstantiated claims, opinions based purely on personal taste, etc.)

Create ground rules.

Explicit ground rules or guidelines can help to ensure a respectful environment for discussion. The ground rules you use will depend on your class size and goals, but may include provisions such as these:

speak respectfully to one another, even when disagreeing

avoid using put-downs (even humorous ones)

avoid disrupting the flow of thought by introducing new issues before the discussion of the previous issue has come to its natural end

keep in confidence any information shared by a student in class

You can set these ground rules yourself and specify them in your syllabus, or have students help create them. Click on these links to see examples of ground rules and a template for creating student-generated ground rules.

Monitor group dynamics.

One of the instructor's responsibilities is to manage the personalities and dynamics within the discussion group, so that all students feel that their contributions (if thoughtful and appropriate) are welcome. Cultural <link to CV doc> as well as personality differences influence the ways in which students enter into (or hesitate to enter into) the discussion.

If a subset of students seems reluctant to speak up in class, you might consider ways for them to share their ideas and engage with the material in an alternative forum, such as via discussion board or e-mail. You can then bring these students' contributions to the attention of the class as a way of acknowledging their perspectives and encouraging further participation ("Felipe made an interesting observation in a post to the discussion board yesterday. He pointed out that..."). Giving students time to write down their thoughts before opening the floor to discussion can also help quiet students get more involved. So too can the use of pair-work and small-group discussions. While some faculty are reluctant to call on quiet students for fear of embarrassing them, it should be pointed out that calling on students can also liberate them: not all students who are quiet are shy; they may simply have trouble finding a way into the discussion.

Sometimes the problem is not shy students but overly domineering or aggressive students who monopolize discussion. Sometimes a subtle approach to reining in these students can be effective (for example: "Jake, I see your hand and want to hear your perspective, but I'd like to give some of the other students a chance to answer first."); other times it may be necessary to take a domineering student aside after class to discuss changing the behavior.

Handling strong emotions and disagreement that arise in a discussion can be a challenge for instructors. A certain amount of disagreement is desirable, yet if the conversation gets too heated or antagonistic, it can inhibit participation and squelch a productive exchange of ideas. When emotions are high, remind students to focus on ideas and refrain from personal comments (this stipulation can be included in your ground rules as well). You might also consider asking students to take a minute to write about their reactions to what has been said so they can cool off, focus their thoughts, and consider one another's perspectives before re-entering the discussion.

Also, consider in advance how you will handle sensitive discussion topics. Certainly one of the goals of education is to challenge and unsettle students' assumptions and beliefs. Discussions that do so may not be comfortable for some participants yet still have the desired effect. On the other hand, done poorly such discussions can stifle rather than stimulate engagement and learning. Thus, it is important to anticipate where the "hot spots" will be and make sure you accord them the time and sensitivity they deserve. Also, think about whether the discussion environment in your classroom is sufficiently inclusive of all your students, regardless of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, political persuasion, religion, etc. (link to principle about inclusivity).

Assign pair and small-group work.

As a prelude or addition to full-class discussion, consider giving pairs or small groups of students the task of discussing a question or problem. Group work tends to work best when the task is clearly defined and concrete. It can facilitate group work to assign roles within the group. For example, one member of the group could be charged with breaking the task down into steps and posing questions to the group; another could be charged with managing time and keeping the group on task; another could have the job of recording the group's thoughts or recommendations and reporting back to the full class. (Assigning this last task to a quiet student can help to draw him or her out.) Click on this link for more on group work.

Make high-quality participation count

While we all want students to participate in discussions for the sheer joy of intellectual exchange, not all students may be equally motivated to jump in - at least not initially. Providing extrinsic motivations can be helpful to establish the behavioral patterns that lead, ultimately, to intrinsic motivations. For this reason, many instructors include a participation grade as part of the reward structure of their courses.

In making participation "count", however, one runs the risk of encouraging talk for the sake of talk, rather than for the purpose of meaningful and thoughtful exchange. For this reason it can be helpful to define what you consider high-quality contributions to discussions and distinguish them from low-quality contributions by using a rubric for discussion that makes your expectations and grading criteria clear. One instructor, for example, defines high-quality participation as: "raising thoughtful questions, analyzing relevant issues, building on others' ideas, synthesizing across readings and discussions, expanding the class' perspective, and appropriately challenging assumptions and perspectives." She assesses student discussion performance on the basis of whether they make such contributions to discussion regularly, sometimes, rarely, or never.

Evaluate the discussion

How will you know if a discussion accomplished what you hoped it would? How will you assess your own performance as a discussion leader? There are a number of ways to evaluate discussions. For example, immediately following the discussion, you might ask students to write briefly about what they learned, how their thinking changed, or how the discussion relates to other course materials. An alternative is to ask students to reflect on the quality of the discussion, answering questions such as: What kinds of contributions were and were not helpful? When were and weren't digressions productive? Did everyone who wanted to get a chance to speak? If not, why not?

Brookfield and Preskill suggest that students "keep a weekly audit of their participation in class discussions and then summarize and analyze their entries in an end-of-semester learning portfolio" (1999, p. 218). Another possibility is to videotape the discussion and analyze it after the fact; this can be helpful because instructors facilitating a discussion are busy juggling many things at once (time management, the flow of ideas, group dynamics), and often cannot assess the discussion as a whole. Davis provides a useful inventory for analyzing the behavior of discussion participants in videotaped discussions (1993, p.72).

Of course, discussions can be evaluated less formally, simply by asking yourself a set of questions after the fact, for example: Who participated? Who didn't? What might explain the patterns of participation? What questions proved most fruitful and why? How might the discussion be improved to promote deeper inquiry, more student-student interaction, etc.?

Physical Factors

Try to arrange the physical set-up of your classroom so that it is conducive to discussion. Some instructors prefer that chairs be in a circle, others in a U-shape, while for small group discussions or debates chairs must be moved and assembled differently. Our intention here is not to recommend a "best way" of organizing the discussion space, but to raise some questions to consider when determining how to arrange your classroom.

First, what are your objectives? If one of your goals is for students to enter into a dialog with one another, then it is particularly important that they be able see and address each other directly. Obviously, the traditional classroom arrangement, with the instructor positioned before rows of student chairs does not serve this objective. On the other hand, if the style of discussion (or quasi-discussion) is Socratic, with the instructor asking questions and students answering, then a more traditional seating arrangement could be successful. In keeping with your objectives, you might also ask yourself what the arrangement of physical space communicates. Do you want to set yourself apart from other discussion participants, or position yourself as one of them? Do you want to make it difficult for students to avoid participation or do you believe they have the right to opt out? (Some authors, for example, have applied a Foucaultian analysis to discussions, arguing that the traditional circle-format is coercive in that students cannot hide from the instructor's disciplinary gaze! (citation).

Second, what discussion format(s) will you use? If you are engaging in a brainstorming session and plan to write on the board, you will need to have students sit where they can see the board. If you want students to work in small groups, you might consider how chairs and tables can be positioned so that you can walk from group to group, or have students do so if the task demands it. If your discussion is part of a group project that involves hands-on construction or manipulation (perhaps of a flow-chart or design), the physical space must be organized accordingly.

As a general rule, it is a good idea to set up the classroom so that students can (a) see each other and (b) see progress (e.g., to watch an evolving list of brainstormed ideas take shape, to focus their participation around a central question, to see several synthesizing points written on the board.) Clearly, the configuration of the room itself can limit your options, as can class size. If you are teaching a class of 120 in an auditorium with bolted-down seats and poor acoustics, the traditional circular discussion arrangement is untenable. However, you would be surprised how much discussion can be accomplished even in large classes (link to lament) and sub-optimal physical settings.

In conclusion...

While there are a lot of issues to consider when planning and leading a discussion, the time you spend up-front thinking through the cognitive, social/emotional, and physical aspects of discussion will pay off later in more lively, productive, and rewarding discussions as well as greater student learning.

References

Brookfield, S. D. & Preskill, S. (1999)
Discussion as a Way of Teaching: Tools and Techniques for Democratic Classrooms. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Davis, B. G. (1993)
Tools for Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Frederick, P. (1981)
"The Dreaded Discussion: Ten Ways to Start". Improving College and University Teaching. 29(3).

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Discussions - Eberly Center - Carnegie Mellon University

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(Some sections adapted from Davis, 1993; Brookfield and Preskill, 1999) Discussions can be an excellent strategy for enhancing student motivation, fostering intellectual agility, and encouraging democratic habits. They create opportunities for students to practice and sharpen a number of skills, including the ability to articulate and defend positions, consider different points of view, and enlist and evaluate evidence.

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Discussions can play a valuable role in lecture courses, seminars, quiz sections, labs, studios and a variety of other settings. A well-planned discussion can encourage and stimulate student learning and add variety to your class. While "good" discussions can be a powerful tool for encouraging student learning, successful discussions rarely happen spontaneously. Preparing ahead of time will help you define a clear focus by establishing goals and student expectations for the discussion.

Planning ahead

Establish goals for the discussion:

Determine goals based on an assessment of what material students already understand and the areas that they need to explore.

Decide what you want students to learn from the discussion. Do you want them to apply newly learned concepts, mull over novel subject matter, learn to analyze arguments critically, or hear each other's points of view? These goals are not mutually exclusive but they require different types of leadership on your part and different responses on the part of your students (see below for detailed strategies).

Communicate clear expectations to students:

Tell students what you expect the discussions to accomplish.

Hand out study questions before your discussion, so students can think about concepts or respond in writing.

Clarify and summarize key points during the discussion:

Many instructors write out notes to assist them in keeping the discussion on track and they are willing to moderate and intervene. Others prefer to leave enough time for their supplementary comments at the end of the discussion. In either case, a brief summary that highlights the main points of the discussion is a good idea.

Developing a questioning strategy

Deciding on the key questions you want to address ahead of time can help ensure that your discussion stays on track and the learning goals you set for your students are met. One three-step approach to developing questions is:

Ask recall and comprehension questions to make sure that the students have grasped the basic data.

Ask questions requiring students to explain relationships among the units of information and to form general concepts.

Ask questions that require students to apply concepts and principles they have developed to new data and different situations.

For example, suppose you are discussing Plato's Republic. You might begin by asking questions, such as: What are the basic components of Plato's ideal state? What are his characteristics of a good ruler? After establishing that students understand the material, you can begin to explore relationships by asking further questions, such as: How does the allegory of the cave fit into the rest of the work? What are Plato's criticisms of Athenian society? Finally, you can ask students to apply the material to their own lives: How would Plato criticize a contemporary American university?

For more on questioning strategies see: IDEA Paper #31: Answering and Asking Questions (PDF), by William Cashin, IDEA Center, Kansas State University

Choreographing group dynamics

Since discussions depend upon students' willingness to talk to each other, it's important to create a classroom atmosphere in which students feel secure in offering their opinions for public scrutiny. Encourage students to learn each other's names and to respond to each other's comments, rather than merely responding to you.

A question-answer session is a dialogue; a discussion is a community activity. Asking for "three reasons" makes students feel that you are fishing for pre-conceived answers, and they will respond accordingly: "Well, I don't know if this is what you want, but..." Asking one question and getting an answer, then asking a second question of a second student and getting an answer is like playing verbal ping pong. Turn ping pong into volleyball: involve as many students as you can and you will have a discussion.

Involving the whole class

Direct your questions to the entire class rather than to one individual and be willing to wait for an answer. Wait at least 30 seconds before repeating or changing your question. This gives students time to think and shows them that you care more about their learning than about the speed of their responses.

Some instructors like to ask students to take a few minutes to write down their individual responses to a question before discussing as a whole class. This gives each student an opportunity to think about and respond to the topic. Then, as discussion begins, each student has at least one idea to offer and feels better prepared to respond.

Standing at the front of the room to lead an instructional discussion often results in a dialogue. It can be helpful to sit so that you represent only one more link in a circle. This diminishes your role as professor and encourages students to look at each other rather than at you. If a circle is not possible, sit in the middle or in the back, or off to the side - anywhere that will suggest that you are no longer lecturing. If it is necessary for someone to be at the front of the room in order to record important points of the discussion, ask a student to take this recording role. Alternately, you can sit in the group and take notes, which you might want to use to summarize the group's thoughts at the end of discussion.

After a comment has been made, ask another person to comment on it (or offer a different perspective, etc.) rather than commenting on it yourself.

If the class is large, divide it into smaller groups, each dealing with the same or separate questions or problems. Move from group to group, giving guidance and answering questions when needed or, if you like, remaining neutral. At the end of the class period, reassemble the class and have the small groups report and respond to each other.

Additional resources

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Discussions can play a valuable role in lecture courses, seminars, quiz sections, labs, studios and a variety of other settings. A well-planned discussion can encourage and stimulate student learning and add variety to your class. While "good" discussions can be a powerful tool for encouraging student learning, successful discussions rarely happen spontaneously.

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http://www.utc.edu/walker-center-teaching-learning/teaching-resources/ct-ps.php

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http://teachtci.com - This strategy teaches students the skills necessary to work together successfully in small groups, both in the classroom and later in life.

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Grab the companion worksheet for this video here: http://everydayspeech.com/think-it-or-say-it/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=YouTube%20Videos Get your 30 day free trial of our complete library here: https://everydayspeechsocialskillsvideos.vhx.tv/ Video Description: When Alessandra gets a gift she from Serena that she doesn't like, she hurts Serena's feelings by telling her that. Alessandra needs to keep not-so-nice thoughts inside so she doesn't upset other people.

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Theories And Methodologies Of Working Together

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Theories And Methodologies Of Working Together

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Collaboration, Group Process, Social Skills

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Call it "active learning," or "classroom participation" -- every teacher wants to know how to motivate students to particpate, and how to nurture more involved students and fewer apathetic ones. With a little extra planning, that is possible.

Below are four common reasons students don't participate and techniques to solve those problems and spice up your lessons.

Maybe it needs to be repetitive because the students don't really "get it," or maybe you're reviewing for a test. In any case, they're tuning out.

Solution #1: Assess their prior knowledge.

This could be as simple as asking students, "What do you know about (topic)?" and writing their responses on the board. You could also try a pre-test or a graphic organizer like a K-W-L chart . The goal is to find out what they already know (or think they know). You create buy-in for the students because they feel smart, and you can tailor your lesson to the information they don't know or don't remember correctly.

Solution #2: Try skills grouping.

Divide the class into groups based on what skills they need to practice - not forever, but for a class period or two, so they can focus on what they really need help with. So have a group that works on multiplying fractions, one on dividing fractions, and one on converting fractions to decimals. Make a group of "already got 100% on the test" kids and give them an extra credit activity or let them preview the next lesson. Then take time to move between the other groups and help them review. You'll have more students engaged in the lesson and they'll get specific, focused practice time.

Solution #3: Let them teach each other.

Especially good when reviewing before a test: divide the class into groups and give each group a topic. Set some guidelines and then let them teach each other. Encourage them to do interesting activities - write tests for each other, design review games, etc. - and evaluate each group on the accuracy of their content, the creativity of their approach, and how well they work together as a team. This is also a great way to discover how to motivate students.

This is really half the problem. The other half - especially with older students - is their fear of "looking stupid" by asking questions.

Solution #1: Allow anonymous questions.

Put out a "question box" where students can submit questions any time. Give each student an index card and ask them to write something about the reading assignment they did for homework. If they don't have a question, instruct them to write a comment on the reading. Collect the cards and use them to lead a class discussion. You'll easily recognize what parts of the reading confused a lot of students and they won't feel embarrassed.

Solution #2: Allow them to work together.

We can't do this all the time; individual students need to be assessed. Ask yourself: is the goal of this activity for them to learn the content, or for them to be assessed? If you want them to learn the content, why not let them work together? When they bring in their homework, do a quick survey for completeness, then put them in pairs and let them review the homework together. Encourage them to make changes if their partner's answer looks right. When they've finished, review as a class. Students may be less embarrassed to share a group's answer than their own and you may be able to complete the review more quickly.

Solution #3: Try a jigsaw approach.

No, we're not talking about puzzles or scary movies. If you're introducing new, difficult content, divide the class into groups and ask each group to master only one portion of it at a time. If, for example, you're teaching the American Revolution, have one group focus on the Continental Congress, one on Washington's Army, one on French support for the war, and so on.

Ask them to do a reading on their topic - to become the class "experts" on that subject. Then split up the class into new groups that include one "expert" on each topic. Ask these new groups to work together to write an essay or complete a worksheet that requires information about all the topics. They will teach each other in the process. Learn more about the Jigsaw Approach.

Problem: There's too much information to present in too short a time.

Sometimes there's no way around it: you simply have to get a lot of information out there in a short amount of time. So you opt for a lecture and just want your students to absorb the content. Instead, they fall asleep or stare out the window. What can you do?

Solution #1: Keep it "bite-sized."

Remember: research shows the average student's attention span is as long as her age. So even high school kids can only handle about 15 minutes. If you have a lot of information to convey, re-arrange your lesson plans so you never lecture for more than 10-15 minutes.

Break up large concepts into smaller sections - give a brief lecture, then do an activity to help it "sink in." Repeat this process over several days. You'll increase participation - and improve comprehension, too.

Solution #2: Keep them busy.

Don't allow students to stare into space while you talk. Give them something to stay connected. Try "fill in the blank" lecture notes. Delete key words and phrases in your lecture notes to create a "fill in the blank" worksheet. Then ask students to fill in the worksheet while you lecture. Another fun variation - lecture bingo .

Solution #3: Look into the future.

Before a lecture, give students a prediction activity. For example, tell them you will be lecturing on Shakespeare and ask them to predict what you will say, or give them a set of true/false statements and ask them to take their best guess.

As you lecture, instruct students to compare their guesses with what you actually say.

When the lecture is over, have a class discussion and evaluate how accurate student predictions were.

Problem: The lesson emphasizes the teacher, not the students.

Solution #1: Keep them busier than you are.

The traditional classroom of yesteryear had the teacher at the front of the room, droning on while students doze. Re-imagine your classroom as a place where students are busier than you are.

Keep the "sit still and let me talk to you" moments as brief as possible; get those kids working! Give them worksheets, activities, discussions, and projects. That doesn't mean you get to sit around -- you will still be busy, moving from student to student or group to group, correcting, evaluating, or providing feedback. But now everyone is busy and involved.

Homogeneous grouping? Heterogeneous grouping? Tracking? Forget the buzz words: having students work in groups is one of the best ways to increase student participation. Don't keep them in the same groups all the time -give them a chance to be the "smart kid" who can help someone one day and the kid who needs help the next.

Take a traditional worksheet or activity and give it to students in groups. Offer a reward to the group who finishes first with the most answers correct and watch them go! Note: it helps to have additional prizes available to keep groups motivated after the first group "wins." Even high school students enjoy these competitions.

Solution #3: Give them a voice and a choice.

Do students ever get a "say" in your classroom? Of course you need to make most decisions, but there must be some things you could leave up to them - whether it's what color chalk you use today or how long they practice a specific activity.

Kids tune out because they feel like their ideas don't matter. Show them their opinions are important and they'll pay better attention and speak up more in class.

There will always be some unreachable student who won't respond, even with these efforts. But if you give these a try, you may be presently surprised at the previously unreachable students who just might join in!

How do you encourage participation in your class? In what ways did you discover how to motivate students? Share in the comments section!

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top 12 ways to increase student participation

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Top 12 Ways to Increase Student Participation

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Call it "active learning," or "classroom participation" -- every teacher wants to know how to motivate students to particpate, and how to nurture more involved students and fewer apathetic ones. With a little extra planning, that is possible. Below are four common reasons students don't participate and techniques to solve those problems and spice up your lessons.

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While increasing participation is an obvious goal in courses that include frequent discussions and small-group work, it is also important in a lecture course. In short, if only a few students participate by volunteering answers, asking questions, or contributing to discussions, class sessions become to some extent a lost opportunity to assess and promote learning. You can improve student participation in your course by devoting time and thought to shaping the environment and planning each class session. Furthermore, the way in which you interact, both verbally and non-verbally, communicates to students your attitude about participation.

Ideally, the goal of increasing participation is not to have every student participate in the same way or at the same rate. Instead, it is to create an environment in which all participants have the opportunity to learn and in which the class explores issues and ideas in depth, from a variety of viewpoints. Some students will raise their voices more than others; this variation is a result of differences in learning preferences as well as differences in personalities. For example, some students who do not speak often in class are reflective learners, who typically develop ideas and questions in their minds before speaking; others are shy students who feel uncomfortable speaking in front of groups (at least initially). Many students who frequently volunteer to contribute are active learners, who typically think while they speak. The instructor's goal is to create conditions that enable students of various learning preferences and personalities to contribute. To reach this goal, you will need to take extra steps to encourage quiet students to speak up and, occasionally, ask the more verbose students to hold back from commenting in order to give others a chance.

This handout is divided into the following sections:

Shaping the Environment
Planning
Listening and Responding
Links and References for Increasing Student Participation

Reserve a classroom that will accommodate the kind of participation you have in mind. Starting on the first day of class, arrange the room in a way that encourages active engagement. When it is time to reserve a classroom, keep in mind not only the number of student chairs you will need, but also whether these chairs should be moveable. If you lead frequent discussions, consider moving the chairs into a circle or "U" to ensure that students can see, and speak to, one another. If you are teaching in a large lecture hall, consider asking students to move so that they are concentrated near the front of the room. Move the chairs back to their standard configuration at the end of class (in University-managed classrooms, see the diagram posted near the door).

Make clear from the beginning your expectation that students will participate. On the first day of class, explain what you see as valuable about class participation. Indicate that you want to do all you can to ensure that the classroom dynamics and activities support full participation, including calling on students who do not raise their hands and sometimes asking frequent contributors to allow others to have a chance. Ask students to inform you if you can make any changes to improve the classroom dynamics and rates of participation.

On the first day of class, give students a clear idea of what to expect regarding participation. If you plan to lecture each day with pauses for questions and discussion, do so on the first day; if you plan to lead more extended discussions, then do so on the first day.

Consider whether you will assign a grade to students' performance in discussions so that they understand the importance of participating. If you do plan to grade participation, inform students of the specific criteria that you will use. For example, will you evaluate the frequency and quality of their contributions, as well as how effectively they each respond to others' comments? Will you include in each participation grade the student's performance on informal writing, online discussions, minor group projects, or other work? Grading student participation is especially important, and usually essential, in discussion courses (see Teaching with Discussions).

Learn and use students' names. Students will be more engaged if they believe that you perceive them as individuals, rather than as anonymous members of a group. Encourage students to learn one another's names, as well; this strategy will increase the possibility that they will address one another by name and direct their comments to one another, not just to you.

In a discussion course, assign to your students some of the responsibility for increasing participation by all. For example, on the first day of class, you might tell students your goals for class participation (e.g., informed and lively discussions in which everyone participates) and ask them to come up with a list of guidelines that will help the class reach this goal. Typically, they will generate excellent guidelines such as "do not interrupt others when they are talking" and "critique the ideas; don't criticize the person." Post this list on the course Web site and hand it out in class. Students who feel invested from the beginning in making the discussions successful will be more likely to work together to increase participation.

Consider requiring students to lead discussions or to submit discussion questions before class. Provide guidance and assess student performance on these tasks (assigning a score, for example, that forms a part of the class participation grade.)

In discussion courses in which you are having trouble getting students to participate, consider asking students to submit anonymous comments on class participation as well as suggestions on how to get more people involved; often, they will let you know that there are problems with the classroom dynamics that you may not see yourself (such as that some students resent the "domination" of discussion by one or two others) or that the structure of the discussions has become too predictable or formulaic.

Use a variety of teaching methods, including lectures, discussions, and small-group work. If you are teaching a lecture course, set aside time during each lecture to ask and answer questions, to ask students to solve a problem, or to discuss an issue. Pause every 15-20 minutes for this purpose. When students learn to expect these opportunities for discussion or questioning, they will listen more actively to the lecture. If you lecture for 45 minutes before you pause for questions or discussion, your students will have been taking notes for so long that they may find it difficult to switch modes quickly. Furthermore, they may well have forgotten questions, comments, or unclear concepts from the earlier parts of class (see Teaching with Lectures).

If you are teaching a discussion course, integrate short lectures into the lesson plan in order to introduce concepts, clarify and order ideas, and help students make connections. Use small-group discussions, informal writing assignments, and online discussions before or at the start of class to prompt student thinking about the discussion topic. These strategies can be effective ways to provide reflective learners and shy students a means of developing ideas that they can then contribute to the class discussion. Commenting on the insights that quieter students contribute in small-group discussions and on informal writing assignments and online discussions can encourage them to speak up in the larger group; you might comment on a student's written work, for example, "this analysis is insightful; the entire class would benefit from hearing your ideas more often" (see Teaching with Discussions).

Organize each class session to include opportunities throughout to ask and answer questions; prepare initial and follow-up questions ahead of time. Use questions to assess student learning, to signal to students which material is the most important, and to help students advance their knowledge and thinking. (For a discussion of strategies for formulating questions, see Asking Questions to Improve Learning). Encourage students to ask questions throughout the class (approximately every 15 minutes), not just at the end.

If grading student participation, plan to give students a preliminary participation grade, as well as a brief written evaluation of their performance. If you will grade class participation, give students preliminary grades as early as 3-4 weeks into the semester and at midterm so that they will know where they stand. Your written evaluation can be designed to encourage the quiet students to talk more often and the verbose students to hold their comments to give others a chance to participate).

Use verbal and non-verbal cues to encourage participation. Do not rely on the same volunteers to answer every question. Respond to frequent volunteers in a way that indicates that you appreciate their responses, but want to hear from others as well. Move to a part of the room where quiet students are sitting; smile at and make eye contact with these students to encourage them to speak up. By the same token, when frequent volunteers speak, look around the room rather than only at them to encourage others to respond (see below).

Reduce students' anxieties by creating an atmosphere in which they feel comfortable "thinking out-loud," taking intellectual risks, asking questions, and admitting when they do not know something; one of the best ways to do this is to model these behaviors yourself.

Give students time to think before they respond to your questions. Do not be afraid of silence. Give students 5-10 seconds to think and formulate a response. If 10-15 seconds pass without anyone volunteering an answer and the students are giving you puzzled looks, rephrase your question. Do not give in to the temptation to answer your own questions, which will condition students to hesitate before answering to see if you will supply "the answer." Patience is key; do not be afraid of silence. The longer you wait for students to respond, the more thoughtful and complex those responses are likely to be.

Often, there is at least one student in every class who will quickly raise her or his hand to answer nearly every question. If you consistently call on this student, those who require more time to formulate answers will simply learn to wait for this student to answer. (See Asking Questions to Improve Learning.)

Listen fully to your students' questions and answers; avoid interrupting. Resist the urge to interrupt when you think you know what the student is going to say or ask. Often, well-meaning and enthusiastic instructors make incorrect assumptions and leave their students' actual questions unanswered or misrepresent what the students had planned to say.

Provide specific, encouraging, varied responses. Point out what is helpful or interesting about student contributions. Pick up on comments that were made but not discussed. Do not use the same, standard praise to respond to every comment. When students hear "good point" again and again, they start to lose motivation. Ask follow-up questions to prompt students to clarify, refine, and support their ideas. When a student gives an incorrect or ill-conceived answer, respond in way that challenges the student to think more deeply or to reconsider the evidence. The best way to shut down participation, and learning, is to embarrass a student.

Repeat student responses to summarize or clarify ideas. Use this strategy when a student's comments are vague or "all over the map," but do not over-use it, leading students to rely on you to "translate" or validate their ideas.

Redirect comments and questions to other students. Encourage students to respond to one another, rather than merely to you. When a student is speaking, look around the room, not just at the student who is speaking; making eye contact with other students lets them know that you expect them to be listening and formulating responses. Provide students with a model of civil discourse by demonstrating respect for, and interest in, the views of others. Learn to limit your own comments. Particularly when facilitating a discussion, hold back from responding to every comment; otherwise, students will learn to wait for you to respond rather than formulating their own responses.

Place the emphasis on student ideas. Encourage students to share their ideas and use those ideas (with attribution) whenever you can. Referring back to a comment made by a student in an earlier class demonstrates that you have thought about and appreciated what your students have to say.

Active student participation does not happen naturally in university courses; it must be carefully planned and encouraged. Set aside time throughout the semester to assess student participation in your course and to develop strategies for improvement; administer midterm student evaluations to help you with this process. Consider asking a colleague to observe your class; often, outside observers can discern patterns that hinder participation but that may not be apparent to participants. Take notes during and after a semester so that you have a record of what went well and what you would like to change the next time you teach the course in order to increase student participation.

Davis, Barbara Gross. Tools for Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.

"Questioning Strategies." Center for Teaching Excellence. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. http://cte.illinois.edu/resources/topics/methods/strateg.html.

"Encouraging Interaction in Science and Engineering Classes." The McGraw Center. Princeton University. https://mcgraw.princeton.edu/node/661.

"Facilitating Discussions in Humanities and Social Science." The McGraw Center. Princeton University. https://mcgraw.princeton.edu/node/656.

McKeachie, Wilbert, et al. McKeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers. 12th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. © 2009, Washington University.

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While increasing participation is an obvious goal in courses that include frequent discussions and small-group work, it is also important in a lecture course. In short, if only a few students participate by volunteering answers, asking questions, or contributing to discussions, class sessions become

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Students, especially those experiencing personal and academic stress, benefit from reflection opportunities and chances to participate in school in positive and productive ways. In their book, Social and Emotional Education in Primary School: Integrating Theory and Research into Practice, Carmel Cefai and Valeria Cavioni have excellent ideas about how to help students have a better social-emotional learning experience during the school day.

Reflection on Constructive Group Participation

Helping students understand that much of what they do in life -- academic, social, civic, vocational, and recreational -- involves working in groups. What makes for constructive group participation? Encourage your students to rate and/or reflect on the following questions, each of which describes an important element of successful group participation.

Help your students to identify their strengths and focus on an area of improvement. Have them buddy up to work on those areas. Consider students' skills in these areas when forming them into groups:

Rating: 1(rarely true), 2 (occasionally true), 3 (frequently true), 4 (almost always true).

I am able to identify and communicate how I am feeling.

I can appropriately handle my feelings.

I can set and achieve goals that will make me more successful.

I am able to keep going in the face of difficulties and setbacks.

I can reflect on my thinking and learning.

I am aware of the feelings and opinions of others.

I care about others and do my part to make my school/group better.

I care about and respect the individual differences of others.

I am aware of how I perceive others and how they perceive me.

I will interact appropriately with others.

I will work on having positive and caring relationships.

I will collaborate with others in learning and social activities.

I will learn to handle conflicts in constructive ways.

I will act in an honest and responsible way with others.

When making decisions, I will consider the needs and rights of others.

Setting Personal Social-Emotional Goals

As part of a reflection journal (see section below), or morning meeting, advisory, other related activities, or simply within your classes, help students evaluate how things are going and how they can go better. Have students reflect (via writing and/or discussion) on one or more of the following:

1. Write one or two things you like about your classroom/group.

2. Write one or two things you would like to see happen in your classroom/group.

3. Write one or two things that might help you learn better in. . .

4. Write one or two things that may help you to behave better in. . .

5. Write one or two things you would do when you have problems or conflicts in your group.

6. Write one or two ways in which you would include all others in your group.

7. Write one or two ways that you give and get support to/from others in your group.

I don't think it takes a great deal of imagination to see the many ways in which these prompts can be used not only to help individual students improve, but to also to provide valuable guidance for making group and classroom time more constructive and satisfying.

Student Social-Emotional Journals

As students focus on specific social-emotional skills or are working on particular character attributes, Carmel and Victoria recommend that they keep a weekly journal. They mention two formats. In the open-ended format, students are asked to document their experiences in getting along with others during the past week.

Among the questions they can reflect on are:

What they like doing

What they are good at

What they have learned

What they need to learn or develop more

Where they need more help

What they are looking forward to in the upcoming week

They can use modalities such as drawing, writing a story, jotting down thoughts and feelings about anecdotes, or using a picture of some kind to represent the past week. Some teachers like to get students started by explicit guiding questions or by using prompts, such as, "One thing that went well with other students this past week was. . ." or " Something I wish went better this week was. . ."

A more structured version is linked to specific social-emotional or character-related lessons or skill building experiences students are receiving. It would begin with whatever the focal skill(s) or character attribute is, and then could follow many of the same guidelines as the open-ended format.

This activity can be completed as part of language arts or art instruction, or during circle/morning meeting/advisory time. Once students complete their individual entry, you can have them discuss their reflections in pairs, small groups, and/or the full group.

Student reflection journals can be shared with parents at parent-teacher conferences. At the end of the year, copies can be sent home with parents, as well as allowed to move on with students as part of their social-emotional and character growth portfolio.

Carmel and Victoria's book is especially strong in providing assessment and benchmarking tools, as noted above, to foster educator and student reflection, denote progress, and help define areas in that would benefit from future attention.

The focus on both individual social-emotional competencies and improved group functioning helps prepare students for the many future contexts in which their success will depend on both.

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When Students Reflect on Group Participation and Social-Emotional Goals | Edutopia

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Students, especially those experiencing personal and academic stress, benefit from reflection opportunities and chances to participate in school in positive and productive ways. In their book, Social and Emotional Education in Primary School: Integrating Theory and Research into Practice, Carmel Cefai and Valeria Cavioni have excellent ideas about how to help students have a better social-emotional learning experience during the school day.