Thread by @ryancordell

This will be a long thread about a small but significant pedagogical victory today—like many, I’ve been struggling, to say the least, with student engagement in 1 of my classes—more pointedly trying to lead discussion has been 1 of the most frustrating experiences of my career

Before I go any farther, I’ll just say right up front that I’m not claiming I found some magic bullet—I don’t know if this thread will address your precise challenges or if what I did will help meet those challenges—I don’t even know yet if it will help my challenges long term

I’m sure some will find details here that prove my intellectual, moral, or pedagogical failings, of which there are many—I'm sure this will be obvious to others—I’m not trying to claim universals during an incredibly stressful time for teachers—I just hope it's of use to someone

The course is an upper-level information sciences class, "Reading & Writing Data"—canvas.illinois.edu/courses/21941—it fulfills a GenEd requirement for advanced composition, which means there’s lots of writing, workshopping, revision, &c.—the GenEd credit is why most students are there

I expected it would take work to draw students into active discussion—many IS classes focus on building technical skills & might not expect this kind of engagement—but I was unprepared for a reality in which ~2/3 of the class seem—most days—like in-person blank zoom panels

I know students participate in different ways & never require every student to speak as often or to the same degree as every other—I try to build in multiple modes of participation, including active listening—I’m talking about something more extreme than shyness or introversion

To be blunt, when I say "like blank zoom panels" I mean that most days ~2/3 of the student come in & keep their eyes locked on their laptops for 50 solid minutes, giving no indication that they even hear what I & the other ~1/3 of the class are saying when we are discussing

I mean I’ll pull out a reliable prompting exercise—say, I’ll ask everyone in the class to "write a single word on the board related to what you want to discuss today" & a significant subset of the students just…don’t. They don’t move—they don’t seem to even feel peer pressure

Frankly, it’s been depressing—without being cocky, I consider myself a good teacher—I care & think & talk about it more than folks in higher ed are supposed to—& this class has thrown me into a mini crisis of confidence—is it me? The students? The new discipline? The new school?

Talking with colleagues in the school and beyond, however, I’ve realized that many others are facing these same issues & they seem most acute, oddly enough, right now—even more extreme than in previous pandemic semesters—& so today I decided to address it head on with my students

Our classroom is pretty well designed for discussion already—modular tables and rolling chairs—easy to walk around or shuffle students for group work—but I came in early today & pushed the tables against the wall—set up the chairs in the class discussion-session circle & sat down

Students filed in uncertainly—some chatter started about the new configuration—they knew something was up—& when class started I said "I’m going to be a little vulnerable for a moment" & I talked about how difficult & draining it’s been fighting so hard to encourage participation

I had prepared what followed beforehand—I was worried that if I spoke off the cuff I would forget something important, or especially that I might skip some of the context that would make it clear I wasn’t haranguing or guilting them, but trying to reset our classroom relationship

I talked frankly about the time-tested strategies I’ve tried & why—things like group work or mini writing prompts—& how baffling its been to see those fail to spark the kinds of engagement I usually see—"I’m not saying all this to blame you, just to explain how I’m feeling"

I apologized for waiting too long to discuss these issues with them & admitted it was tempting to just let the semester play out—but that wouldn’t be fair to them or me—& frankly, the fact that conversation has been so difficult is not a compelling argument for it to remain so

I admitted one reason I find our classroom silence so difficult is that I know for a fact some of the quietest students are reading closely & thinking hard based on their written work—this class has really *not* struggled to write effectively—only to communicate with each other

For example, I require students to submit 3 questions or observations about our readings before discussion so they don’t have to generate ideas on the fly & some of the sharpest submissions come consistently from students whose eyes never waver from their computers in class

I said next: "As I was thinking about this recently, I started really thinking about the fact that we never laid out *why* I ask you to read and discuss. And I thought about the fact that this is my first undergrad class, in person, since classes were interrupted in spring 2020."

"I came with assumptions about what you've done in previous classes & what you understand about learning that may never have been articulated—you started college at the earliest in 2019-2020, and more likely mid pandemic. You've had more zoom classes than in person ones"

Next I tried to explain *why* I care whether they participate—"For me, discussion is vital because I fundamentally don't believe that the point of a college class is for me to hand you some readings, explain what I think they mean, and have you echo those ideas back to me."

"Everyone reads & notices certain things—you agree with point x, disagree with point y—When we discuss you hear about details important to your peers that you missed—You see slightly different perspectives—You build on their ideas & we get somewhere new—I know that’s idealistic"

"But discussion is hard—it’s a skill & doesn't come naturally—It takes practice—students used to get that practice in courses like 1st year writing—But you maybe didn't get that practice, and it's unfair of me to assume you did just just because you're mostly juniors & seniors"

I should say that during all this they seemed to be with me—I saw nods & heard laughs or reactions as I laid it all out—I felt like they were open to what I was saying—I could have been reading that wrong, but it seemed like the energy was trending in the right direction

"So, I finished, we’re going to practice today with an exercise I used in 1st year classes in the beforetimes—classes where I was more consciously trying to teach students how to discuss productively"—& I pulled out this stuffed animal, once my daughter’s—which prompted laughter

I admitted the exercise was silly & likely beneath them but asked them to indulge me—for at least the next 20 minutes, I explained, I wasn’t going to say anything—"we can sit & meditate on yesterday’s election, if you want—but I’d prefer to listen to you discuss today’s readings"

The rules are simple: whoever has the stuffed beaver has the floor & can speak—when you’re done, pass it, either to someone asking for it or someone of your choice—I use this stuffed animal because it’s aerodynamic & has enough weight to throw but is soft & won’t hurt if you miss

& then I asked for a 1st volunteer, passed it to the brave student, & shut my mouth—it was quiet for about 20 seconds, then the student started—some hesitance around the 1st pass, but someone shyly raised their hand & said their bit & then the next—I nodded & smiled encouragingly

there was laughter about the stuffed beaver flying around the circle—it’s silly on purpose!—but 1 by 1 they took turns—some of the students who always talk were more active than others, but friends—by minute 30 *every student* had said *something* on topic—no joke—every single 1

At 1 point it got a little quiet & I raised my hand—they passed to me & I just took a few sentences to raise an idea from the reading they hadn’t discussed yet—& then passed it & the cycle continued—they had a sharp, engaged discussion for the full class, y’all—it was miraculous

Again, I’m not writing this tout myself—I’m honestly a bit angry it took me so long to come back to this basic discussion strategy—somehow I couldn’t let myself go here with an advanced class, because of my ideas about where they should be—maybe y’all are all doing this already

But my goodness it felt like a victory—I hope it sticks for these students, but if it doesn’t I’ll try again—my whiteboard illustrator even took a minute to memorialize the exercise before she left—in any case, I hope there’s a nugget of something useful for you in this thread

I forgot to add that at the end of class I thanked them for indulging me & they seemed pretty jovial—I also forgot to attach the whiteboard drawing which was affirming & adorable