Anya Silver (with help from my colleagues)

Wait thirty seconds after asking a question before jumping in, rephrasing the question, calling on someone, etc.

Ask students to bring one or more questions about the text to class. Have students ask the first question in class.

Assign a free writing exercise at the beginning of class to get students' brains working.

Do small group work in which students have specific assignments to fulfill (i.e. “Write a thesis statement about this passage and offer three supporting details.”) I do small group work at least once a week.

Assign particular texts to groups of students, who are responsible for leading class discussion. The instructor sits with the students and does not lead class.

“Magic wand” exercise: Bring a wand of some sort to class. Whoever has the wand has to ask a question or make a comment; the wand goes in a circle around the room. Each student also has three poker chips that he or she has to use up by the end of class. The chips are used to respond to the person with the wand.

Sit in a circle. Whoever wants to say something must move his or her chair into the center of the room before speaking.

Call on quiet students. Say things like “Can we hear from someone who hasn't spoken yet?”

Read superior daily/weekly responses aloud to the class, especially those written by students who do not normally participate. This might encourage those quieter students to become involved.

Have your preceptor mark down each day whether or not a student participates; this will make assigning class participation grades easier and, at least superficially, more scientific.

Ask your preceptor to talk to students who either participate too much or too little outside of class. Also ask your preceptor to tell you if she/he thinks that a student has wanted to participate but is too shy.

Give students plenty of reinforcement for participating. My students have told me of high school teachers who responded “That's lame” to their ideas, or hit them with towels.

Give students midterm class participation grade doing so has been very successful in my FYS classes Emphasize how important class participation is in their final grades.