Yesterday I had the students do some in class work to find ONE source for their paper, however, one group sat there quietly and didn't do anything. I was walking around the class asking each group what they were searching for, if it was academic or popular, how it would be useful, etc. When I got to this group and asked if they had found a source, they looked at me with those half-smiles where they're considering lying to you about what they have done. Eventually one of them said they didn't look anything up. So I talked to them about what they could possibly look up. One student said that he wasn't clear about the expectations for sources--what they need is clearly spelled out on the assignment sheet and I noted it in class as well. So, I explained in further detail, but I'm not sure if that was to detract the attention from the fact that they didn't do their work or because he was genuinely confused. I don't want to think the worst of this student, but I didn't ask them for too much.
How do you deal with students not participating (or doing what you ask in general) in class?
Story of my life! I don't have a great answer to this. My experience usually involves me laughing it off to avoid being mad and trying to be as objective as possible. My students ignored my email that clearly said when something was due, so I received a bunch of late assignments with their reasons: "I didn't know there was a time limit," "I have a lot of stuff going on," or "I had practice." At first, I was irritated, but then I had to accept that their poor performance and excuses were not a reflection of my teaching. Sometimes it just is what it is. I know it sounds simple and cliche, but one of the most important things to discover is that you can't get down on yourself for their failures and that someone IS actually listening to you. I think you handled it well by reexplaining it, but ultimately they sink or swim.
ReplyDeleteIt depends on the situation; sometimes I let it go, and sometimes I will ask individual students "Do you have anything to add?" (to whatever their group has said). If somebody looks like they are really anxious about participating, or really tired or whatever, I try not to push too much. Sometimes students really prefer one type of activity over another and I try not to get too hyped up over whether 100% of the class is doing the activity or not, although I admit it can get frustrating when it doesn't go as planned.
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