"No Opt Out" means that you don't allow a student to just say "I don't know." If you allow this, students learn that they can get away with not thinking or participating by just muttering "I don't know".
Instead, when a sequence begins with an "I don't know" response, you need to make sure you end the sequence with the student answering the question, one way or another. In between you can prompt the student in different ways, put the question out to the general classroom, or even give the answer and have the student repeat after you. But, in all cases, the sequence must end with the student answering the initial question.
My response:
I've started to do this, and I think it really works. I haven't noticed a distinct change in my students' attitudes, and I definitely still get a lot of "I don't know"s (because I'm sure they really don't know) but I still think it is a really good idea.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I have a Prof. who does this. He is brutal about it. After a couple students were subjected to this, everyone came to class prepared.
ReplyDelete