RHE 398T: Teaching First-Year Writing, Theory and Practice

- Whenever students make particularly valuable contributions to class discussions, send them individual emails thanking them for their effort. This shows you’re paying attention and encourages them to keep it up. Students rarely receive this type of recognition from UT instructors, and they may be more willing to face the scary prospect of speaking in class as a result of it.

- Ask your students for help! All good discussions are collaborations, and often students have great ideas for how to improve discussions for their particular class. Classes the size of yours are exceedingly rare at UT, and sharing the responsibility of teaching is rarer still.

- Justifying class discussion to students
- How to prepare for a discussion day
- What to do during a discussion
- What to do after a discussion
- Alternatives (or enhancements) to oral discussions: Forums and Blogs