Step 4: Using Pre-Work to Highlight Diverse Voices in Classroom Discussion

Another technique to bring different student voices into the conversation is “warm calling,” where the instructor chooses whom to call on (rather than inviting raised hands) but does so knowing that the student is already prepared to contribute to the discussion. Jane Mansbridge warm calls by leveraging students’ weekly reading responses to elevate voices that might otherwise be diminished or discounted. Because all students complete reading responses, all are prepared to participate. One of Mansbridge’s students touts the value of this approach: “In a class where 60% or 70% of the students don't have English as their first language, it is super useful to know what you have to say and when you have to say to communicate in the best way you can.”

Profiled: Jane Mansbridge, Charles F. Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Value, teaches "Democratic Theory" to ~30 students at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Takeaway Tips

Require students to electronically submit reflections or reading responses prior to class sessions and use those submissions to shape your session plan.

Bring student perspectives from the pre-work into class through some combination of sharing their written ideas and/or asking for them to discuss their ideas verbally. Establish this process as a norm of the class.

It can be helpful to give students a heads-up about sharing specific points if/when possible.

Using pre-work isn’t the only way to use what you already know about students’ thinking to bring them into the conversation (e.g., as you visit small groups in your classroom, listen for comments that you might ask students to share with the larger group).

Related Resources

Here are Jane Mansbridge’s instructions for students on how to complete reading responses and how they will be used in class. 

Amherst College's Teaching & Learning Collaborative offers a brief overview of how one instructor uses warm-calling. 

Asynchronous discussion boards, used creatively, are a related before-class way to increase student participation and seed the in-class discussion.

In this Faculty Focus article, instructors from a variety of universities share their favorite techniques for drawing students into classroom discussion, including the use of pre-work.

Reflection Questions

What work do your students complete as they prepare for class? How does this preparation equip them to participate in class? 

How might you better leverage pre-work to ensure more voices are heard in discussion? 

Jane Mansbridge’s use of pre-work to encourage participation helps reduce the anxiety some students feel about participating and brings more voices into the conversation. In the next video, we’ll examine another technique designed to help students feel more comfortable speaking up during discussion. 

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