I. Introduction
From my first day of observation in the classroom, I have been interested in the quiet students. These are the students who are not necessarily disruptive, but they remain tacit and appear somewhat disengaged. What are they thinking? Are they bored? Are they daydreaming? Do they care? As an introverted person myself, these students stood out and continue to stand out to me because I remember in high school when I felt too nervous to vocalize my thoughts in a large-class discussion. Often, I knew the answer or had a valid contribution to make, yet was afraid to speak up. Eventually, I began to push myself to volunteer--particularly when classes had a participation grade. The more I spoke, the more I felt comfortable, engaged, and interested in my classes. Rather than just listening to other students’ thoughts and answers, I became an active, engaged participant, invested in class discussions and material. Beginning my work as a student teacher, then, I continued to be interested in the quieter students perhaps because I saw myself in them. Knowing firsthand the benefits of moving out of my own comfort zone of being just a listener, I was interested in finding ways to encourage verbal participation for all students.
As I prepared in the fall to begin lead teaching my own classes of 9th and 11th grade English, questions about student engagement in class discussions continued to nag at me, as full-class discussions are traditionally the primary format of English Language Arts classes. Again and again in my observations, the pattern recurred of a few key participants volunteering with the rest of the class remaining silent. What did it mean to be engaged? Was verbal engagement the most beneficial form of participation? Was it necessary for all students to speak in order to intellectually develop at their highest level in an English class? Or was there some alternative form of participation that could equally enhance student development? Every time that I taught or observed another class, these questions swirled in my mind.
If it is true that verbal participation is the best way for students to develop intellectually and socially and knowing that English classes are a key place for these discussions to take place, how could I then restructure my classes to promote the importance of each individual student’s voice, encouraging everyone to participate verbally? Through this reflective process, I came to this question of inquiry: what does engagement look like in a full-class discussion? Over the past seven and a half months, I have attempted to answer this question. In many ways, this question has actually led me to more questions rather than a definitive answer; however, this question of inquiry has served as a crucial jumping off point for me in becoming a reflective teacher researcher, committed to the idea that much of how I shape, restructure, and reflect upon my own practice can affect students’ experiences and development in my classroom.
As I prepared in the fall to begin lead teaching my own classes of 9th and 11th grade English, questions about student engagement in class discussions continued to nag at me, as full-class discussions are traditionally the primary format of English Language Arts classes. Again and again in my observations, the pattern recurred of a few key participants volunteering with the rest of the class remaining silent. What did it mean to be engaged? Was verbal engagement the most beneficial form of participation? Was it necessary for all students to speak in order to intellectually develop at their highest level in an English class? Or was there some alternative form of participation that could equally enhance student development? Every time that I taught or observed another class, these questions swirled in my mind.
If it is true that verbal participation is the best way for students to develop intellectually and socially and knowing that English classes are a key place for these discussions to take place, how could I then restructure my classes to promote the importance of each individual student’s voice, encouraging everyone to participate verbally? Through this reflective process, I came to this question of inquiry: what does engagement look like in a full-class discussion? Over the past seven and a half months, I have attempted to answer this question. In many ways, this question has actually led me to more questions rather than a definitive answer; however, this question of inquiry has served as a crucial jumping off point for me in becoming a reflective teacher researcher, committed to the idea that much of how I shape, restructure, and reflect upon my own practice can affect students’ experiences and development in my classroom.