Fist in the Air

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FIST IN THE AIR

Basically, this strategy is to encourage students to participate in class discussions. I’ve found that some students just “sit in class” and rarely raise their hand during class discussions. I don’t know why they fail to participate. It might be due to shyness, fear of failure, fear of ridicule from others, lack of confidence, actually not knowing answers, inattention, etc. With such a child, try this.

Have a private discussion with the student to set this up. You can do this with more than one child at a time but if you do it with very many -- you’ll lose track of who’s doing FIST IN THE AIR and who isn’t and mess the whole thing up.

During this discussion, you tactfully lead the student to understand that you are aware he/she knows the answer to most of the discussion questions. Tell the child you want to help him/her successfully take part in class discussions. Get them to “buy in” to the importance of taking part. Have the student help you list reasons why, as a teacher, you need students to raise their hands.

Make a deal with the child that with EVERY (or almost every) question asked, he will raise his hand if he knows the answer or not. This will help to keep an inattentive child focused.

The signal for knowing the answer is an open hand in the air. (You make every effort to call on the child).

The signal for not knowing the answer is a fist. (You agree not to call on the child)

After a while -- when the student seems to be experiencing success, have another meeting and cancel the FIST aspect and ask the child to “take a risk” and raise his hand each time he knows the answer to discussion questions. Usually, the child will raise his hand quite a bit for a few days.

If need be, restart the program.

SMILE

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

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ADDchoices@yahoo.com 316- 733-9532