Instructors can encourage different students to participate not only by calling on them directly but also through physical proximity. Dan Levy intentionally moves around the classroom as a way of encouraging more students to share their thoughts during discussions. Standing in different places in the room allows him to express support for students sharing controversial or nondominant views and to create room for students to engage with one another. This technique can be especially helpful for large classes, where some students might be quite far from the front of the room. As Levy’s teaching assistant explains, this practice “helps even out participation as well as engagement across all sides of the classroom, as opposed to just focusing on the most active corner or the loudest corner, as is often the case in other classes.”
Step 5: Moving Around the Room to Encourage Participation
Instructor
Dan Levy, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy
Student Group
Graduate
School
Harvard Kennedy School
Course
Advanced Quantitative Methods
Group Size
74 students
Plan your routes ahead of time. Pick a couple of paths you might take in your classroom and consider how standing in those places might change the gaze and attention of your students.
Be prepared to move improvisationally as well. Notice moments when particular students might benefit from having your physical presence nearby.
Engage with students throughout the room both verbally and nonverbally. Making eye contact with students who are not front and center welcomes all students into the fold rather than a select few.
This resource from Yale on “Classroom Seating Arrangements” can help instructors choose classroom layouts that allow them to circulate among students.
Created by the University of Iowa, "Stage-Blocking: Movement in the Classroom" guides instructors to apply stage-thinking to their classroom movement in order to increase student engagement.
Teachly is a technology tool that can help you map classroom interactions, which can in turn help you determine how movement can help create more equitable participation.
Where do you typically position yourself in your classroom during large-group discussions? Are there parts of the room you could spend more time in?
Are there particular students in your classroom who might benefit from greater proximity to you? How can you move around to be near these students when they need it?
Changing your position in the room can help create an environment where all students feel supported and comfortable sharing their thoughts, particularly those students who might need some additional encouragement. In the next video, we’ll move away from whole group discussions to look at using small groups to bring students into the conversation.