Maybe it’s my imagination, or maybe it’s my small “sample size”, but I swear there seems to be more students coming out of high schools who are really reluctant to talk in class. I’ve been teaching at Lock Haven for 13 years, and as a general rule, I haven’t needed to “call-on” students in certain classes to force them to participate. However, I’m actually at a point now where I’m starting to think I need to change my informal “policy.”
Of course, there are lots of times, depending on the class, where I “force” students to make presentations, discuss ideas, and talk about their experiences. During these times, many of these “quiet” students communicate quite effectively.
I also have some classes where I give a participation grade every day (and it’s a significant part of their grade.) It’s very common for a percentage of the students to take a zero on days where I don’t “force” them to participate. It seems like the students are moving into one of two “camps”—those that won’t shut up, and those that won’t say anything. I do wonder if technology is contributing to this?
One reason I say this, is that sometimes those students who won’t say anything in class turn from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde when they email me. I don’t even know it’s the same person; they seem so much more forceful and opinionated. Also, in my 9th grader’s case, she is constantly texting but rarely talking on the phone. I understand from my wife that my daughter is nowhere near as “talky” at school or even with her friends as she is at home. I’m beginning to wonder if technology is making it easier for students to “hide” behind, and also not giving them as much practice at face-to-face types of communications. Does anyone else see this? Also, for those of you who have been in high school more recently, what are teachers doing to help or hurt this problem?
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I see this as an alarming trend in education. Students do not raise their hands because of fear that they may get the wrong answer and fear that if they do provide the wrong answer, then the students will laugh at them. Students need to be aware that if you make a mistake, then that is part of the learning process. If you make a mistake, the teacher will correct you and give you the right answer, that way, you don't make the same mistake especially on something important like an exam. Also, if you raise your hand, then students who were thinking the same thing and did not raise their hand, then they also know not to make the same mistake on the test. Everyone, including yourself, learns from each other's mistakes and students need to realize that if they do, it's really no big deal.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of it has to deal with the way technology transformed communication as well. For example, texting! I know so many individuals who would rather send a text to communicate rather than pick up the phone and talk. I also agree with Teak that students are nervous and fearful to respond with a wrong answer.
ReplyDeleteI believe that a huge contributor to the problem of students talking less is the nature of technology that our students use these days. Students spend the majority of their time interacting with their peers through some technological medium. Students text and speak on some type of social network. This has drastically reduced the student's comfort with face to face interactions, including speaking in front of a class. Teachers can incorporate projects that give the students experience speaking in front of the class to sharpen their skills in this area.
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