Probably every teacher at any level has had a class at one time or another which was shy about participation, reluctant to express their responses to class material.  No teacher relishes trying to initiate discussion when no one has anything to say.  Usually the problem is related to the students having insufficient time to process the material before having to answer—the problem may also be related to a lack of confidence in what they have to say.  Try the following methods of using writing to give students time to think about the material before responding.
 

· Have them choose and copy two quotes from the text which they found especially thought-provoking, confusing or meaningful. Exchange papers with a partner.  Choose one of the quotes to free?write on for ten minutes (more or less depending on the class).  Share their free?writes with the each other.  Pick one to share with the class.

· Write three open?ended questions about the material.  Exchange questions for discussion with a partner, or bring the questions to the whole class.

· With a partner, hold a written conversation about the text. Students should initiate discussion with a question or two, exchange papers and respond to each others’ questions.  I find this works better with two papers going back and forth at the same time for each pair.  This works especially well with texts the students meet "cold" in class.

· Prepare a numbered list of open?ended discussion questions about the material.  Plan sufficient questions to give you optimal sized groups for your class. Give one question to each student.  Have them write on their question for five minutes, then meet in groups with everyone who had the same question.  Each group will then report on their discussion to the class.

· Have groups of students write discussion questions together about the material.  Exchange questions with another group.

· Give them a question about the material to free?write on for ten minutes.  Ask them to identify the most important idea in their free?write.  Go around the room and have everyone read the underlined portion of their free?write without comment.  Ask the class to summarize what has been said in response to the question.  This is a good non-threatening way to hear the voices of shier students in the class.

· Have the class each write two connections they can make from the material  to something else they have studied  or to their own lives.  Go around the room and each share one of these connections.

· Prior to class, have students illustrate some aspect of the text.  Pass their illustrations around in small groups.  Each group member should comment on the pictures and give their interpretations before the artist explains the work.  I have found that very different interpretations can emerge in this way.

· Ask students to create a poem from the  material, using the words of the text and expressing their understanding of the concepts in poetic form.  Share these with partners or with the whole class.

· Have students write a story to illustrate the concepts in the material.   In a math or science class, they might have to write a story which incorporates  the use of some particular theory.  In a history class, they might write historical fiction.  Share these with the class.
 
 

 Many of these suggestions are useful in dealing with other participation concerns as well, such as the domination of discussion by several group members, or uneven participation between boys and girls.   All are designed to help students feel comfortable with their own responses to the material.