Shy Student - 10 Tips for Dealing with QUIET learners/How to Get Shy Students to Participate | Classroom Management

 Shy Student - 10 Tips for Dealing with QUIET learners/How to Get Shy Students to Participate | Classroom Management.This article is all about for teachers as well as for parents .If your child is not participating in the class then you must read the given instructions to do the counselling of shy students.You need to encourage the shy students to participate in the class.

Having shy or quiet students in class is one of the most common problems that teachers have to deal with in every class there are learners that are hesitant to answer or engage in discussion which makes it difficult because they have to practice their speaking and share their understanding of the material explaining themselves and taking part in class discussions is important for students so  today I will share 10 tips to deal with quiet students nobody is shy rule in my very first class I have few rules

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Respect everyone in class one person speaks at a time and nobody is allowed to be shy in my class in order for them to share their thoughts and communicate learners have to speak they can't improve and I can't help them if they don't speak so I tell my students that they are not allowed to be shy in class when I call on them they will answer. when they are in group discussions they will participate I don't care if they make mistakes but when they enter my class they are talking machines .If you make a rule they have no choice but to take on that identity at least when they're in your class they are able to suspend that inner dialogue that they are shy and become a more confident version of themselves if a student complains that they are shy i remind them of the rule sorry in my class no one is supposed to be shy it keeps them accountable for their actions cultivates a confident mindset and reminds them of your expectations of their participation create a safe comfortable classroom environment everyone should have a voice in class you as the teacher should continuously question them to check their understanding these questions let them know that they have to pay attention and will be asked to speak during class there are no wrong answers.,  no one will make fun of them and you will help or encourage them with appropriate feedback correct their answers for accuracy complement them for fluency the only wrong answer is no answer if a student struggles to answer a question I start the sentence for them or give them some hints or vocabulary to help I praise their efforts afterwards to make sure that they know that students that participate are assisted if they struggle and praised when they persevere if a student doesn't answer or is too slow to answer i make a note of it and  continue if it happens again.                                     👉speak to the whole class on the importance of participation students don't like to be mommed remind them of the speaking rule and that they have to speak to improve I do not mind. 

  👉 Positive reinforcement         If they make mistakes nobody will laugh at them and i will assist them when needed positive reinforcement is one of the most effective means for encouraging your students to speak in class if possible make participation part of their grade and let them know that it counts that might backfire with some stubborn students saying that they don't care about grades so always rather push  Internal motivation by making class fun and constructive classroom management making speaking a positive and fun experience will make class much better than threats or the promise of grades engage early and often you need to train the students to expect questions and be prepared to answer. 

 👉 Questioning randomly        So many times I've seen a teacher lecture a class for 30 minutes blah blah blah blah blah then all of a sudden ask the students if they have a question to take part in the discussion or dialogue human beings just don't work that way you cannot expect a runner to sprint without warming up instead of lecturing for extended periods of time rather check in throughout the class by questioning your students throughout it should become a given that every student will be asked a couple of questions during lessons these are also known as content checking questions so make a point of it to continually ask every student a question or two they should know that and be ready you may want to start by asking simple questions first to build up their confidence you can also let the students read examples from the book do practice dialogues with you or share information from their own lives by being vocal throughout class they will find it easier to participate in other speaking activities just be warned this means that the talking should be focused on activities you don't want the class to be disruptive and overly loud. 

        Students should be talking but it should be on task set them up for success expecting all students to be ready for class with pre-existing knowledge and skills is not something we should automatically assume. 

          I often hear teachers say students are supposed to know this it's so simple I shouldn't have to do everything for them.No, always consider the lowest ability student how can you prepare everyone in class for success to do that you need to simplify and give them the tools necessary to achieve the desired outcome how do you do that pre teach vocabulary give them sample phrases they can fall back on do many examples in class before group or peer activities practice with some students for everyone to see

what is expected

think, pair, share

start with basics or break activities into smaller chunks so instead of doing five questions do the first two take feedback then progress to the next three that way you can see how much they understand so no one falls behind you don't want to teach the whole lesson and only realize at the end that a slow student didn't understand baby steps can lead shy students to open up and become more confident in class as you progress before going through questions or doing a class discussion let the students read it with a partner you can also warn them about what questions you will ask during class and that everyone will get called on to answer helping students formulate their responses in advance alleviates the anxiety of being called upon unexpectedly.        👉Lesson objective & success criteria                                              at the start of class you can write the lesson objectives on the board that way they know exactly where they are headed .Also write success  criteria what is expected of them at the end of today's class you will know about you will be able to talk about having visible goals will clarify what is expected of your learners.                   Reduce teacher talking time as I said previously you cannot expect the students to be talking machines if the only machine talking is you instead of telling them about things get them to open up ask them about their opinions and to share their experiences recognizing and giving praise to shy students when they speak up in class shows that you have noticed their effort this can 👉Give students a confidence boost and reduce their fear of sharing opinions but you are still their primary source of knowledge so it is important for them to learn from you. 

        Just make sure that you center your lectures around the curriculum and avoid polarizing political topics include their passions connect the learning to their lives and interests that way they will enjoy class more feel validated when they share and create more connections by talking about their passions out loud let them share positive ideas or memories they get excited to talk about keep it simple focus on things they can understand use realistic like show and tell having a physical object there takes the pressure off of them and places it on the item allowing them to excitedly share information about it i also like to ask my students to prepare photos from their lives since my students have phones they share a photo of their weekend a place they went to something they ate put them in small groups let them talk about it and encourage every other member to ask a relevant question i like to remind them of the five w's before practicing follow-up questions give students 👉Enough time to respond often teachers are too impatient and don't give a learner enough time to formulate an answer in their head especially with second language learners you should give them at least 10 seconds to reply. 

 Give them vocabulary or hints to what the answer might be students feel safe because they know that i will a give them enough time to respond and be guide them to the correct answer if they do get stuck.               It's a bit different with classes when i teach online i ask my students to turn off their cameras therefore when I ask them a question i don't know if they can hear me or not so they have to answer quicker than if they were in class. 

  👉Avoid open-ended questions    Also when dealing with quiet students shy away from open-ended questions at least at first simple and specific questions are easier to answer and they can concentrate on forming a correct sentence for example instead of asking what do you think about the story ask?who are the characters in the story? or was the narrator's mother mean? or kind to him when there are exact concrete answers they don't have to overthink about how to phrase their answer listing the questions in a written format as you ask them can help many students understand it better and thereby give more confident answers if you have the questions on the board students can listen read and then give a more thoughtful answer use multiple skills in every lesson activate different skills to prepare them for speaking let them write down their answers.                    First do a drawing ,listen to examples ,think ,pair share make it fun always encourage your students to write down their ideas if they struggle that will give them something to fall back on if they do get stuck like a safety net tell them not to read out loud because that is reading and not speaking of course unless they are super stuck notes are there for support not to be the complete answer i would like to make a mention of anchor devices physical or verbal anchors can help students retain ideas better. 

            When teaching prepositions for example

why not have a pink bunny as example the bunny is on the desk, the bunny is behind the pencil, when students have to recollect a word or phrase they can use the anchor of the bunny to help👉 Don't pick stronger students first many teachers suggest that you start off by asking more confident or stronger students first before moving on to shy learners this is wrong kids are smart if you only pick strong students first they will notice that will damage the confidence of weaker or shy learners because they will consider themselves not good enough instead mix it up and ask them questions at the start too you may want to simplify initial questions for students to get into the flow but be fair about challenging every student whether they answer correctly or not they will respect you for giving them The opportunity besides how will anyone ever improve if we don't challenge them occasionally don't get me wrong set them up for success but every now and again surprise them with a sterner test or something out of bounds like i might just ask a student about food what did you have for dinner last night give equal opportunity to all your learners regardless of ability you can pick them randomly .                                  👉Play fun games     Sometimes I  like them to have fun when picking use rock scissor papers the loser answers the question or

whoever's birthday is next has to answer

students can't get upset when fate decides who answers next have private one-on-one conversations with your learners.                                             As a teacher you wear many hats at night you're designing your lessons for the next week or let's be honest just staying a day ahead in the morning before school you're on patrol during homeroom you're hanging out with your students when class starts you're a professor and between classes or after school you are a therapist we owe it to all students to check in with them regularly but it's especially important to check in with your quieter more introverted students those who might be more reluctant to bring their challenges or struggles to you if a student seems stressed ,disengaged or distant don't wait for the situation to magically improve by itself be proactive and privately get them to open up to you and share what's going on in their life by building relationships with your students they will feel more open to talk and participate in class getting shy or quiet students to speak in class can be a difficult job for a teacher                      So, I hope some of these ideas can help you engage your learners improve their participation in class.