Seeking Answers Together

I was unfamiliar with this technique. Recently I have been working to develop effective ways to engage online students. With minor adaptation I plan to try this with collaborative online gro... See More

I was unfamiliar with this technique. Recently I have been working to develop effective ways to engage online students. With minor adaptation I plan to try this with collaborative online groups. Each smaller group could research a question or concept to share on a whole class discussion board.

Get the Snow Ball Rolling

In this article the author explains how he uses the Snowballing Questioning Technique to help his students participate in classroom discussions. I was first introduced to this method in one... See More

In this article the author explains how he uses the Snowballing Questioning Technique to help his students participate in classroom discussions. I was first introduced to this method in one of my doctoral courses. The technique begins with the teacher providing the students with a stimulating topic. The students are then asked to generate three questions they want to ask to better understand the topic. Then, as this author did, they can work with a partner in a pair-share format before discussing with the rest of the class. It is an effective method for encouraging ELL students and shyer students to take part in classroom discussions.