The Skillful Teacher

Talking Isn’t Rewarded
It may be that a teacher’s desire for conversation is not matched by
the reward system. If you say you value discussion, but you award
grades based only on students’ performance on midterms or final
exams, then students will put all their available energy into working
to pass those tests. The time and energy spent preparing for, and
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engaging in, classroom discussion will not be seen as worth the effort.
So make sure that the criteria for assessing student work include par-
ticipation in discussion and be as specific as possible as to what this
looks like. Finally, establish an incremental reward system so that
students can see from week to week that their participation is build-
ing points towards their final grade.