Engaging Shy Students & Reflections on the First Day

Hey all,

By now, everyone's probably taught their first lesson! I just wrapped up mine about an hour ago. I love that shift from nervousness to positive adrenaline that happens on the first day; something about meeting your students in person and putting names with faces can really ease the stress of having to teach.

Reflections:

First of all, on a positive note, I felt like the whole time was used productively. I moved through the syllabus and other obligatory first-day business fast enough to prompt some preliminary discussions of content and get students oriented to the class and what I find important. The tone of the class felt positive.

One particular exchange was lovely: after I played the clip of Malalai Joya at the Loya Jirga, one student commented that she did not know or understand her audience (who would oppress her or systematically isolate her). I posed the broader question to the class: Does this mean she should not have spoken? Another student hit on the interesting point that she's trying to raise dissent or incite the room; which is perhaps a goal itself.* I raised the question: Notice that we're watching this on YouTube--was her audience limited to just that room? And a variety of students hit on interesting responses dealing with how she's trying to impress people in other countries, heighten exposure to her plight, and so on.

The ensuing group conversations about the value of our ability to speak and communicate freely were solid; students definitely seized on important issues of the value of being able to express your passions in America. The segue into the syllabus review (I am passionate about this so that's why I'm strict about some of these items) felt right.


* One thing I should've raised here was: Notice that a great many people in that room were clapping at what she said--albeit nervously, fretful about demonstrating too much support. What does that teach us about her audience?


One other thing that went well: I borrowed a page from our graduate director and told students how I can tell when they haven't read. Having been "that guy" in undergraduate (the one who didn't read, but definitely pieced together what four other people said to construct a rough response), I definitely was able to communicate to them how I'll know when they've skipped the reading.

A few considerations moving forward:

• Students were a bit inactive, given the 8:00 AM time--but that's no excuse. I told them to drink coffee if they need it in future classes.
  
• The fist-to-five: A decent ice-breaker; with the large group it got a bit repetitive. I might reconsider it for next semester. 25 students is a lot for that.
  
• Getting to know their names will be tricky! I will emphasize this at the beginning of next class. It's important to me that I can identify them by name so I can call on them and share their ideas. It's probably a five minute time sacrifice during the next class that will make everything else run more smoothly in the long run.
  
• I felt this weird impulse today to make strange and random connections to stuff I find interesting, but that students probably found tangential (Katie had a similar issue yesterday). I don't know why--as a high school teacher I never did that without it being really relevant. Something about being back on a college campus and prepping for graduate seminars makes me want to sound smart. I'll keep that in check next time and focus in on concrete examples that I think about in advance to make sure they actually fit the debate.
  
• A lot of expectations will need to be recapped at various points in the semester. Something I'll stress to new TAs is to roughly plot this out in advance. As you introduce new assignments, consider where you'll need to reinforce expectations for APA citations, reading, attendance, and deadlines.
  
• I need to spend more time discussing the Oral Communication Center, how to access it, and the benefits of going there! I told them about extra credit, but as verbal assignments arise I need to spend time on this.
  
• I definitely had a few particularly shy students. I'm going to write a few strategies I'll use to deal with that below.

Engaging Shy Students

Not all shy students are created equal. Some are shy because they are anxious about talking. Some are shy because they are disengaged or bored. Some are shy because they are acclimating to a new culture. It's important not to make assumptions one way or the other as I approach this. I think we often associate with apathy things that are really a simple lack of clear expectations on our part about who is supposed to participate, what they're supposed to do, and how they're supposed to do it.

To this end, I am going to take the following measures to engage my quieter students next class period:

1) The desk situation. The desk layout in the room today was a hot mess. I arrived to class ten minutes early to move the desks such that they'd be in neater rows and less crammed together in the back of the room. But my student almost all arrived to class fifteen minutes early, so I didn't get to do this! I guess I need to arrive twenty minutes early next Tuesday? Either way, I need to move the desks around to better facilitate breaking into pairs and groups, to create clearer rows, and to better involve everyone in activities.

2) The first activity. Jessica just shared with me a very engaging activity regarding the Communication Model. I think our discussion today re: students designing their own communication models was a good start to this dialogue, but students need a hands-on demonstration of how these different models look, and I'm going to launch next class with it (even if that means truncating other aspects of my existing lesson plan). 

Basically, Jessica's activity involves students instructing one another in how to draw while facing in various directions or communicating in different ways depending on the model under discussion. [She promised to post it on the ELMS site later--check it out!] I will use this to engage shyer students by causing them to interact in various ways (verbal, nonverbal, kinesthetic/illustrative) without requiring them to do anything full class. And since the activity relies on partners, there's no way students can "duck out" of having to participate because they're in a group of 3.

3) Circulating the room. Another reason I need to get the desks uncramped! It's important to me to travel around the room and listen to different groups of students as they work on their discussions. This will allow me to hear the thoughts of shyer students in more intimate settings--and I can then ask them to share out their ideas (which I've now validated as good ones) with the full group with some advance warning, so students don't feel put on-the-spot.

4) Email communication. I won't do this for next class period, but as we move into future classes I will anticipate potential questions or discussion points and involve shyer students by asking them to come to class with some thoughts ready-to-go on those topics. Again, this gets them into the dialogue without forcing them to think up a response and deal with potential performance anxiety at the same time during class.

Any other thoughts on engaging quieter students, or first-day reflections? Please share in the comments below!