Rethinking Classroom Participation: Listening to Silent Voices

Many educators understand how to gauge learning by paying close attention to student talk. Few know how to interpret and attend to student silence as a form of participation. In her new book, Katherine Schultz examines the complex role student silence can play in teaching and learning. Urging teachers to listen to student silence in new ways, this book offers real-life examples and proven strategies for ‘rethinking classroom participation’ to include all students - those eager to raise their hands to speak and those who may pause or answer in different ways. Essential reading for all teachers, this book: redefines participation to include multimodal responses and engaged silence; explores how teachers might shift classroom discourse, structures, and assessment measures to reach all students; examines how silence can carry multiple meanings, including resistance, boredom, thoughtfulness, or strategic timing; and, looks at individual and group silence in the contexts of the classroom and school, as well as larger sociocultural patterns.