Engaging the shy student.
To help students that are too shy in class to speak up, I will put the students in discussion groups. I will then ask a question and give them time to discuss it among themselves briefly. Then one student can answer for the group. I find that this sometimes allows the shy student to build up their confidence first in a small group before they are ready to respond to the whole class. I have found that as the class progresses, that shy student tends to participate more as a whole.
I like that. Small groups also give the group a chance to know each other.
I agree that putting students in discussion groups, help students that are to shy in class to speak up. I found that by doing this it helps a student who is shy to build up his or her confidence in group first than in front of the whole class by themselves.
I have not tried putting my classes into groups, I will try this tactic. Hopefully those students that are shy will start to speak confidently.
Hi Macy-
Be sure to structure your groups so that they have a balance of outgoing/reticent students. It may also help initially to ask one of the more outgoing students to serve as the group leader and make sure that he/she understands that the goal is to get everyone responding. You can also have the students take turns being the group leader.
I have noticed that the shy student will benifit from small groups,because they are more comfortable around there piers.
My classes are already very small, usually only 3-6 students. So often what I'll do is present a question or topic, then excuse myself from the room for a bit so they don't feel the pressure of my presence. Once I return to see how they're doing they are all trying to present their findings to me. Even the shy or insecure students. They are excited and proud and I give them all a chance to share their results and reveal the process of coming to their conclusions. (Often they don't know I'm outside the door spying on them)
This is a greate idea. I am gonna give it a try in my next class.
I try to engage shy students with a hands on demostration that he would help in the project and ask for his input on why we are doing certain steps in the demostrations.
I like this ideas, since to our class, we group them usually of five per groups. This will give them a chance to be involved with others, and also practiced their carmaderie. Off-course some negative feedback will come along and they will learn to overcome and work together.
This way also we can see who among the student are the natural leader and the follower. They were force themselves to engage in more practical and beneficial learning with in the group.
I agree that is a good idea. One time, while I was demonstrating the animation stand and camera, I noticed a shy student smiling and becoming very eager to try the equipment. I let her go first, and was impressed with how well she learned it. From that point on, I had her be my helper, and assist the other students. Boy, what a difference I saw in her confidence and self esteem!
Hi Catherine- Knowing how to read students' body language is invaluable and you obviously have got it!
I have found that shy students are more often willing to ask questions in an online forum than during class.
Hi Terrence - Welcome to ED 103! You are so correct - students in online classes are so much less inhibited. Of course that means that online instructors actually have to do a lot more work as they get so much more volume of responses that they must address. Best wishes - Susan
Offering everyone the opportunity to contact the instructor via email or an online forum discussion seems like a great venue for shy students to express their questions. Especially if they have a speech impediment and don't enjoy speaking. Sometimes you will discover that a shy student is in fact VERY loquacious when given an opportunity to make inquiries in a different format.
Hi Justin - I often teach online classes and have definitely seen that, as you mentioned, the students who are shy and quiet in the on-ground classroom, absolutely blossum in the online environment! Susan
I have found that doing a "game show" gets the students to participate as a team and have fun which helps the shy students participate.
I like this idea of small groups. The shy student has a chance to interact with a few students at a time as opposed to the whole class and become more comfortable in the class. As time progresses, hopefully the student will be comfortable with all the people in the class, that perhaps the shyness is not so great that they will participate more.
Hi Robert- Thanks for your post to the forum. I agree small group work is great for the shy students and if the groups are regularly changed they get comfortable with all the class members.
Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
