1. Strategies to promote student engagement and classroom equity
Joshua villalobos

2. “What” vs “how”
Higher education communities often focus on issues of “what” students need to learn and less on “how” students learn.
Structure Matters: Twenty-one Teaching Strategies to Promote Student Engagement and Cultivate Classroom Equity- Tanner, K.D. Life Science Education Vol. 12, Fall 2013
“everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb, it will live its whole life believing it’s stupid” Albert Einstein

3. Wait time
Wait time between questions and instructor response is on average ~1.5 sec.
If wait time is increased to 5 secs:
The length of and correctness of their response increases
The number of “I don’t know” or no answer responses decreases
The number of volunteered and appropriate answers by a large number of students increases
Test scores increase

4. Time to write
Minute Paper- Allow students to capture their thoughts on the days lesson and give you an assessment on how effective you were
Students write at the end of the class period for 1-3 minutes on a concepts they learned or a questions they have on the topic discussed in class.
Allows some students the confidence to participate in class without having to speak
Often these are difficult at first but students begin to learn how to answer questions more effectively in the long run

5. Think-pair-share
The simplest way to give all your students in a classroom opportunities to share information and to participate
Step 1: Pose a question “how are the three branches of government related?”
Step 2: Give one minute for self reflection
Step 3: Have students pair with a neighbor (left or right) and discuss their answers together for 2-3 minutes
Step 4: Paired discussion may or may not be followed by whole group discussion

6. Hand raising “No one is raising their hands?!”
Avoid making the classroom an open forum for discussion
Establish early on a class culture where any one can be called on
Don’t make being calling on feel like a penalty
Make the process of asking question to a random student transparent
Popsicle sticks
student index cards

7. Multiple hands, multiple voices
Ask for hands and multiple voices to respond to class questions
“I’m going to pose a questions and I’d like to see at least three hands who would like to share their ideas. I won’t call on anyone until I get three volunteers.”
Establish early on a class culture where any one can be called on
Don’t make being calling on feel like a penalty
Make the process of asking question to a random student transparent
Popsicle sticks
student index cards

8. Ask open ended questions
Questions should be phrased to encourage meaningful answers and not single-answers
Open ended questions typically begin with “How”, “ Why” or “Explain”

9. Establish classroom norms
Its critical to establish your expectations on learning, education, and behavior om day one.
What an instructors chooses to do on day-one of class sends a strong message to students on you (an them) on your teaching style.
Norm statement can be:
“Everyone in this room has something to learn”
“All ideas and answers will be treated with respect”
“Everyone is expected to support their fellow classmates when challenges arise in class”