Defining what participation looks like in a Harkness Classroom

As mentioned before, to make Harkness work, I need students to really be able to understand their role in the classroom.  

I had students read a list of ways they should be participating in class during this time also from Dr. Sauer.  The list is long.  So, after reading the list, I focused on just one of the bullet points.  Specifically, "ask questions".  Together we brainstormed what "asking questions" should look like/sound like.   This next part was really important.  I told students I would be looking for them to ask each other questions each day and would take note of who asked questions.  This would be put into the gradebook as points.   This is a lot like the "participation quizzes" I saw at a KSTF meeting once.  Even though students were at times sarcastically asking one another questions in class just to get the points, it totally worked!   They were ALL about asking each other questions - especially as I got near a group.   I tried to assign competence to students who were authentically asking strong questions. 

Throughout the week, we took a look at a few of the other ways they should participate and discussed what that should look like and sound like.  Over the course of the week, we talked about 1) asking questions, 2) check that others in the group understand the solution, and 3) summarize, clarify, or restate progress made on a particular exercise.  Again, every day I explicitly said I would be looking for these three ways of participating and documenting it.  This held students accountable to the norms in a more visible way for myself and for students. 

This first week, I was the one who re-capped the day and went through specific exercises with the class.  I told them I expected them to make notes on their exercises.  I think I could make this more productive by doing 2 things:

1. Getting a different colored pen for students to make these notes with so it was clear what is new, added information, and what is old.
2. Moving to having students do the majority of the presenting.

Overall, I really think this discussion and structure for participation was what made the class more successful this second time around.