I’ve been saying this for over 35 years, since the first time my teacher made us all participate in Show and Tell. I hated speaking in front of people then, and I hate doing it now. In between, I hated being called on when my hand wasn’t raised, which some teachers did to try to encourage more participation. But all it succeeded in doing was to make me fear those classes and to be so busy worrying that I wasn’t learning. I hated oral presentations. I hated having to be the spokesperson for group work. I hated anything that caused me to be the center of attention for more than a couple of people at a time.
Katherine Schultz, the author of a not-so-recent (but new to me) article in The Washington Post seems to agree with me, that forcing students to verbally participate in class may not be the best way to teach all students.
Read the rest of Jenny Williams’ post at GeekDad.
