Real McCoy Teaching Tip: Improving Classroom Participation Through "Wait" Time

Do you have students in your classroom that never seem to participate?  Have you witnessed a student or child freeze up or shut down when he or she are put on the spot to answer a question?    

Whether you are a teacher or a home educator you have probably encountered children who don’t volunteer or participate in class discussions at all.   Let me offer a few insights into what may be going on with that child. 

First, the student or child may be fully aware of what is going on in the classroom, but the pressure to respond on the spot may bring such anxiety and fear to the surface that it paralyzes them to respond appropriately or to not say anything at all. Hence, the deer in the headlights look you get when you call on them.  This response is especially bound to happen if it is an area of difficulty for the child.  Let’s look at ourselves.  How many of us like to be put on the spot by an administrator at a faculty meeting or presenter at a professional development conference in front of our peers?  Unless that is the nature of your personality, the answer is probably, “NO”!

Second, our brains all process information given to it at different rates.  Some of us receive input to the brain, process it quickly, and an answer is ready immediately.  Others of us receive the same input, but it takes us more time to process it or we think it through more, before we answer. 

One of the reasons we ask students to raise their hand is for the sake of equity.  Johnny who knows the subject matter well and processes the information quickly will always answer before everyone else and dominate the class discussion.  That is why we provide a system to monitor who participates, when they participate, and how often they contribute to the discussion through the raising of hands. 

Just because a child takes longer to process information, does not mean that they have a deficit in that area.  It may mean that he or she needs more time to generate an answer.  Didn’t you hate it growing up when you were about to answer a question and then someone interrupted and stole your thought or the teacher called on someone else because you didn’t answer in that “3 second” window of opportunity given?

Students with learning disabilities often process information slower than usual, but it doesn’t mean they don’t understand what is going on either.  Many times they never participate in class because they know that someone else will answer for them, or the teacher will not give them adequate time to answer and just call on another student. 

Have you ever asked the class a question, then asked a few more questions and when you called on a student with a learning difficulty, they answered the question you asked a minute or two ago?  Sometimes it may be that they were not paying attention, but I want to offer another explanation.  If you have a child at home or in school who processes language slower, they may have just figured out the answer to the first question you asked, and you as the teacher or parent was looking for the answer to the fourth or fifth question that you asked.  It wasn’t that they didn’t understand.  It just took them longer to get the correct answer to the first question.  By the time they got an answer, you had moved on with the group.

So how do we help these silent students in our classes and homes get involved in class discussions and participate in the group?

One of the best strategies I have found is to give adequate wait time when answering a question.  Who says that the “3 second rule” works for every student?  Silence in the class, while you give a student a chance to think through an answer isn’t bad.  Sometimes the student who thinks a problem through offer the better solution than the child that just blurts out whatever comes to their mind. 

Another strategy to implement in the class is to let the student know beforehand that you will be calling on them and to be prepared with an answer.  How might this look in the class? 

Suppose you just taught a math lesson and were going to practice some problems as a group.  Johnny never participates, but has demonstrated in independent work that he understands the concept. 

Teacher:  “We are going to work through some problems in the book as a class.  Johnny, I’m going to call on 4 students before you, then I want you to give me the answer to number 5?  Is that ok?”  This takes the pressure off Johnny to feel like he will be put on the spot and gives him enough time to work out his problem, while the teacher calls on other students.  Johnny is able to participate and can feel a sense of accomplishment in the classroom.   

Offering adequate wait time and opportunities for students to participate in the class will improve student morale and ultimately their performance in the classroom.

Real McCoy Teaching Application:  This week, choose a child that you want to participate more in class or at home and use one or both of the strategies suggested in this article?  Remember to praise even the smallest accomplishment.

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Antoine McCoy is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher as an Exceptional Needs Specialist working with children with mild to moderate disabilities.  He has taught children in all grade levels (K-12) in Public and Private Schools (general education, inclusion, and self-contained classes) and worked with homeschoolers.