Getting Comfortable
You have arrived at Smith with your own associations for the idea of “speaking up,” and with your own level of comfort about talking in groups. Whatever your comfort level may be, your professors will encourage you to both speak and listen during classroom discussions, because most of them believe that robust classroom discussion allows everyone in the room to learn from each other. This page includes thoughts, advice and strategies for students who would like to speak (or listen) more in class.
Some of the tips below were adapted, with permission, from The McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning at Princeton.
Before Class
Understand that there are many ways to prepare.
“Talk back” to your readings. Make sure that your readings are formatted and printed in a way that allows you to talk back to them. Write notes, questions and criticisms in the margins of assigned articles. If you can’t afford to print all of the Moodle readings for a course, refer to the syllabus to get a sense of the course’s trajectory, and choose at least one article per class to print and mark up.
Create a study group. Get in touch with people from class, asking if they would like to meet to go over study questions and other course material.
Talk to your friends about what you’re learning in class. Describe some of the course content to your friends over dinner and tell them what you think.
Write to your professor. Say something like, “I tend to be quiet in class, and it’s not because I’m not engaged. I plan to speak up more this semester; I’ve made it a goal, and I want to let you know.”
Use office hours. Talk to your professor about your own goals and tell him or her about your specific learning needs. What do you want your professor to know? Do you have trouble jumping into the flow of a conversation?
Make a plan with your professor. Make a plan with your professor that you are going to come to class prepared to make the first observation or ask the first question.
Try a cognitive restructuring exercise. Designed by Smith College Professor of Psychology Patricia DiBartolo, this exercise will lead you down a thought path in order to help you start thinking differently about speaking in class.
During Class
Understand that there are many ways to contribute.
Ask for more information. “Can you say more?” “I think I know where you’re going with that, but I'm not sure.”
Explicitly link two contributions. “I see a connection between comments that two people made...”
Explicitly link a conversation point to an important theme or goal of the course. “There’s a connection between what we’re talking about here and some of the larger themes we’ve been discussing...”
Pose a question that links the topic of the day to an important theme or goal of the course. “I’m wondering how the example that we’re discussing relates to...”
Talk about why another’s idea is useful. “Your idea is really interesting because...”
Add to a point that’s been made. “I’d like to expand on what she said...”
Paraphrase and add to a point that's been made. "So the point that you're trying to make is this..."
Find a theme. "I see a theme here, based on what a few different people have said..."
Pose a cause-and-effect question. "Can you explain why if [this] then [this]?"
Show appreciation. "I really appreciate what you said, because it helped me understand this in a new way."
Respectfully disagree. "It sounds like you're saying [this], and that's interesting because [this], but I disagree because [this]."