When I started started teaching, I felt intense relief whenever students raised their hands and spoke up in class.  My students were so chatty, I thought.  They must be excited about political science, and about the class too!  It didn’t matter what the students said, or that, in reality, only a handful of students were doing most of the talking.  I was just glad that my questions weren’t greeted with awkward silence, a problem I had heard my colleagues complain about.

By rarely cutting off even particularly long-winded students, I was attempting to create an open and friendly atmosphere in my classroom.  My students weren’t necessarily benefiting from or enjoying the class as much as I thought they were, however: one study found that over 60% of college students reported feeling “annoyed” by students who talked too much in class, and over 90% agreed with the statement “in most of my classes there are a small number of students who do most of the talking.”

I thought everything was fine, though, until I received my first teaching evaluation.  The class was to focus on the drafting of the Constitution, but somehow the conversation drifted towards an evaluation of New York City’s mayor.  “Why would you let those students who clearly hadn’t done the reading dominate the class discussion?” the professor who evaluated me asked.  What’s worse, she pointed out that only male students were doing the talking.  Some of the female students perhaps felt uncomfortable speaking up in this atmosphere, she suspected.

I’ve since become much more mindful about how I might try to create a more inclusive classroom environment, one that encourages students to think more critically and engage directly with the course material.  Here are a few tips I’ve picked up:

• Be clear about your expectations for class preparation and participation.  Class discussions tend to be richer when more students come to class prepared.  The syllabus should include a very clear timetable about when the readings are due, and should also feature a numerical breakdown of how class participation will affect final grades.  I also include a line about “thoughtful” class participation demonstrating “an “engagement with assigned reading.”  This is fairly vague and hard to measure, of course, so I’ve also started giving reading quizzes and factor these scores into the preparation/participation score (it also gives students who are genuinely shy a chance to show me that they’ve done the reading and earn some points).
• Provide some framework for helping students know how to contribute in an academic setting, and model those skills.  It’s not that students have been doing nothing but texting on their phones all their lives, but there are certain conventions for the college classroom that they might not be familiar with.  For example, students might find this guide from Smith College helpful (it contains a useful list of strategies and ways to communicate during class, even if students are shy or nervous).  You should also model the behavior you want them to learn, such as active listening and respectful communication.
• Vary the kinds of questions you ask. I often like to start out with some softball questions, asking students to summarize various points from the readings just to make sure everyone’s on the same page.  Students who might not have much background in the subject might feel more comfortable answering these questions, and I sometimes use this opportunity to randomly call on students who don’t participate as frequently.  You might also consider asking students how they can relate the material to their own experiences (most people like talking about themselves!).  The University of Michigan’s teaching center has complied a useful list of other discussion question strategies here.
• Don’t be afraid to interrupt students if they’re delivering a monologue or getting off topic.  It can feel uncomfortable and rude, but sometimes it’s necessary.  You might ask something like “Can you relate that to [X]?” or “How would [a particular author] respond?”  Alternatively, you might say “OK, let’s consider [X]” and invite other students to speak.
• Be aware of gender dynamics. Numerous studies have found that professors tend to call on male students more frequently, ask them more abstract questions, and refer to them by name more frequently.  Female students are less likely to participate in class discussions, and when they do, they are more likely to be interrupted by their peers.  Make sure you call on men and women equally, and consider including more small group activities or designating every student a “discussion leader” or “expert” at some point during the semester, as this excellent handout from Columbia’s Teaching Center suggests (it also includes more tips and details on what to look out for).
• Don’t be afraid of silence.  It’s great to have a go-to student (or two) who you know you can always count on to say something insightful that will get other students thinking.  But if you’re always calling on the first student who raises his or her hand, students are going to learn that they can just sit back and let others do the talking (another thing to keep in mind when it comes to gender dynamics: as the Columbia handout notes, those “quick responders” tend to be disproportionately male).