Valuing and Encouraging Student Participation

In his book, Teach Like a Champion, Doug Lemov highlights that all effective teachers use a variety of strategies that keep their students highly engaged in the learning process.  In those highly effective classrooms, no student has the opportunity to opt out of learning. Valuing and encouraging student participation is something that these skillful teachers do consistently.  Some of the strategies highlighted in his book include:

• Using Wait Time – it’s critical to develop a culture in your classroom that values waiting for a student to formulate his or her response, not just moving on.

• Revoicing what a student says – it’s not just enough for the answer to be said once…”so you’re saying that….”

• Asking students to restate someone else’s reasoning – checking for understanding by asking students what someone else said using their own words.

• No Opt Out – a student who at first says that he/she doesn’t know the answer to a question should be asked to answer that same question after it has been answered correctly by someone else.

Both parents and teachers can change the interactions with their students by using the above strategies as well as the many others that are shared in text and demonstrated on DVD in Teach Like a Champion.  Teach Like a Champion can change the culture in the classroom as well as change the life of our students. Valuing and encouraging student participation is a critical part of this classroom success.

By Laurie Gross, Educational Consultant and Reading Specialist.