Working with Quiet Students

In-class discussions can help students develop critical thinking skills, but effective discussions require structure and planning.

Garside, C. (1996). Look who's talking: A comparison of lecture and group discussion teaching strategies in developing critical thinking skills.

Related tips:
Facilitating In-Class Discussions: Facilitating a Coherent Discussion
Facilitating In-Class Discussions: Picking Good Discussion Topics
Facilitating In-Class Discussions: Working with Oversharers

Look for common problems that arise in class discussions to determine which intervention is best.

Use tips for building a classroom community to ensure students feel comfortable contributing to discussion.

Incentivize contributing to in-class discussion to reduce the stigma or fear of making in class contributions.

Explain why participating in discussion is important to focus students’ attention on its many benefits and thereby motivate them to increase their participation.

Create a safe classroom environment where you can call on students in a random order to ensure everyone has the opportunity to contribute equally.

Ask students to track and report whether or not they have participated to ensure all students participate.

Use in-class writing tasks or small group discussion to prime students for discussion.

Post discussion questions online before class to allow shy and/or introverted students to prepare comments.

Specify how students should indicate they want to speak to make it easier for quiet students to contribute to the discussion.

Post discussion questions online before class or assign reading responses or pre-class quizzes to ensure students come to class prepared and you learn what would be best to focus class discussion on.