Suggestion Number: 56 IF YOU WANT TO: - Encourage class discussion - Decrease comments directed solely to you as the teacher YOU MAY WISH TO CONSIDER: Moving around the room in a way which will promote discussion. A professor of business administration finds that the way in which he moves around the room alters the kinds of interaction he is able to generate among the students. "When a student asks a question, it is natural for an instructor to move toward that student," he points out. "However, this tends to exclude the other students and focuses the interaction between the teacher and each participating student in a series of dialogues. "In order to draw the other students into the discussion and to get them to address their comments to one another as well as to me, I find that it helps if I move away from the student who is speaking rather than towards him or her. This forces the student to project so that everyone is drawn into the conversation. It also makes it more likely that the student will address fellow students." A teacher of social welfare adds that she has found it useful to use nonverbal gestures to get students to address their comments to one another. "A wave of the hand or a nod of the head is generally sufficient to indicate that a student should be addressing a question or comment to another student and not to me," she says. Limitations on Use of Suggestion Discipline: None
Course Level: None
Course Size: None
Mode: None
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