<p>I'm really having a hard time participating in class. In high school, I didn't participate in class AT ALL. I was afraid that if I said something I would be wrong, though usually my thoughts turned out to be right. In choosing a college, I chose a small school where it would not be possible for me to hide in the back and not say anything. I started off my freshman year telling myself that I had to participate once a day in each of my classes (a big step forward for me). And for the first few weeks, I did that. </p>
<p>Now, the material has become so much more complicated. In the beginning, we read a few pages of material to be discussed in class. I easily had time to both read the material and craft opinions on it before class. But now, I barely have time to do the reading because there's so much more, and I'm skimming sometimes. I'm not participating in class at all now. When the professor asks the class a question, I usually have no response to it. I'm a slow thinker--I need a few minutes to gather my thoughts. Its hard to both think and listen to what other kids in the class are saying at the same time. I want to listen to the other kids because I don't want to repeat what someone else has said. Also, when class ends, I write down what the professor says we will discuss in class the next day. The night before the next class, I answers those questions in my notebook to prepare myself for class. But usually my professors don't even ask those questions! I then moved onto another strategy. I noticed that one of my professors always ties in material that we've read before..saying things like "how is author B similar to author A?" So, I started taking notes on things like this while reading. Again, whatever I write down/think about is never brought up in class! </p>
<p>I really want to participate in class, and it's really bothering me that I'm not formulating responses to what the professors are asking. My mind usually goes blank when they ask a question. It's so frustrating to me that I can spend 2 hours the night before class preparing for a discussion when what I review is never brought up in class. Any suggestions? </p>
<p>I may not have explained myself clearly, so let me know if I should explain myself better. Thanks to any and all who respond.</p>
<p>" I noticed that one of my professors always ties in material that we've read before..saying things like "how is author B similar to author A?" So, I started taking notes on things like this while reading. Again, whatever I write down/think about is never brought up in class!"</p>
<p>What you're doing to study and prepare for class are good strategies. Also prepare some questions for you to ask in class. You can say something like, "I noticed that author A seemed to be similar to Author B in that XXXXXX and I'm wondering what you, Prof. X, and my classmates think about this."</p>
<p>You don't have to sit there waiting for profs to ask the right question. You also can ask questions and bring up subjects for discussion. To do this, usually you have to get your comments/questions in early such as right after the prof has done a lecture or done some kind of intro to the subject.</p>
<p>You also can bring up your ideas to professors during office hours. That will give you more opportunity to go in depth into the points you care about. It also will demonstrate to the profs that while you're quiet in class, you still are prepared and engaged with the material.</p>
<p>How many people are in the class? In a class of 300 students it not really that huge of a deal if you decide not to talk. However if it's a class of 10 people, you'll need to get out there more and enter the discussion.</p>
<p>I know the feeling...every time a prof asks a question my mind suddenly becomes frighteningly blank. Give yourself a few seconds to think, come up with something (even if it seems small and insignificant) and start with that. I've found that once I start talking, my brain comes back and I can contribute something worthwhile.<br>
That few seconds of thinking is really important. I'm used to being able to rapid-fire answers to my family and friends, so I always thought I sounded really stupid when a prof asked me a question and I didn't have an answer right away. After a while though, I fiigured out that it sounds more natural to pause for a few seconds before answering, and the things that come out of my mouth then are a whole lot more logical then! :-)
northstarmom's advice of asking questions is great too once in a while, just be careful to not do it all the time, or your profs and classmates will start thinking of you as the annoying person that just challenges and questions all the time</p>
<p>1) You are almost certainly not alone in feeling some trepidation with the material. First semester freshmen year is all about stepping up your game and just about everyone struggles with it in some way.</p>
<p>2) Don't worry about being brilliant with everything you say. Part of learning how to participate in a seminar discussion is the confidence that what you contribute is probably no more or less brilliant than what the other students in the class are thinking. Don't be so hard on yourself.</p>
<p>3) Sounds to me like you are definitely on the right track in your preparations for class and probably as in-depth as anyone else. Just keep at it.</p>
<p>4) You might try to link up with some other people in the class (perhaps from your dorm) for study sessions. Just talking about the readings outside of class will probably increase your confidence.</p>
<p>Don't worry about participation. If you write good papers and do well on exams, the professors will realize that you understand the material and that you're just more reserved than others. The seminar professors I have count regular attendance as part of the grade rather than the number of comments made during class.</p>
<p>I always have the problem a flash of a descision and then raising my hand only to forget what exactly I wanted to say and then when I say something else that doesn't sound as good I want to correct it so I raise my hand again, they won't call on me because I already had a chance. Luckily I could recover pretty well. It's about thinking on your feet and going with your gut. I never read either but sometimes if you just see where the discussion is going you can improvise.</p>
<p>My favorite time was in my Theatre 199 honors (so the "smartest" kids in campus and not all my age, I was a freshman, pretty tough stuff) class was happening and I didn't read the play at all. And we had to participate. Oh man. I ended up just going with where I thought it was going to go and I took what the teacher said, if he mentioned something off-hand I'd remember it and it would come up helpful later or something a student said and gradually pieced together the play. Wouldn't you know it I discovered a completely new angle of looking at the play in which the prof never thought of before. That's pretty awesome. I wish I could remember exactly what it was but he took the discussion in a completely different direction and I got a lot of compliments after class. After class some guy in my class was talking about the book so he had nothing to say. When I told him I didn't read it either, he almost died, "But you sounded like you knew what you were talking about!" But I didn't. I got stuff wrong, I never named any specific plot points unless I knew they happened, I did do stuff wrong but I participated and sounded confident in what I said and knew what I had to do in order to participate. I still find it completely hilarious.</p>
<p>See the difference between myself there and you is confidence. I was okay with myself being wrong but you obviously aren't. You are so overcome about saying the right thing that you aren't saying anything at all. Do you have opinions? Use them! Do you listen to what your classmates are saying and think about how you might respond in agreement or disagreement? I'm a pretty fast thinker but usually not fast in the right way. I have an opinion I voice it. Oh it's wrong? Oh wait it's MY opinion. Big deal. The prof knows I'm interested and chances are my classmates have heard me speak enough that they know I'm smart (or stupid but who cares) anyways. You can always get others on the right track and they'll answer right but you helped so that's good too. If you really want to participate (if it's that important to you) then just try. It won't hurt you and the class probably won't remember anything you say anyways. Unless it's right.</p>
<p>Plus you can always go with dukeclass's advice. If you want to be known and just can't do it in class then go to office hours. (That's what I did for calculus 2. I'm so scared in math that I almost died when I had to go to the board and even though I knew what to do, I freaked and completely embarrassed myself. It was great though b/c he always brought it up and I played it off. Good times.)</p>
<p>Knowing where you go to school, I would highly recommend ignoring Duke09's advice. Stick with your plan to contribute at least once per class. Your school is very different from Duke.</p>
<p>BTW, the "once per class" goal is the strategy passed along to my D by a couple of seniors. They recommended NOT talking all the time in every class because then you'll stand out like a sore thumb when the inevitable class comes along when you haven't done the reading! Plus, it's kind of annoying.</p>
<p>Questions count as participation. If you don't understand something, chances are half the class doesn't understand it, either.</p>
<p>I didnt read all the revious comments, so sorry if i repeat something, but I go to a small school with discussions and such, and i'm usually really involved. what gets me to do it is the fact that NO ONE will care if I say something wrong, and instead they will actually think more highly of me for speaking. i ask several questions each class (which really slows the progress of the class, but anyway) and professors really notice that sort of thing.</p>
<p>something you could try doing is think of questions the night before and ask the question before other topics arise in class. this might be hard to do, but if you raise your hand, you prof will certainly notice. also, if you still find it too hard to particiapte in class, you could go to your prof;s office during office hours and just discuss it with him/her. </p>
<p>you said that you did participate for a few weeks, so i dont think your problem is having the guts to speak in class, rather it is the notion of not having smething to say that holds you back. </p>
<p>someone above did say not to worry about participating in class, and as long as you write good papers, do well on exams and such, then you'll be fine. BUT at my small school (which seems much like yours) participation grades really enhance a grade and by participating you show that you are giving an effort to understand the material or you're showing that you know the material. either way, prof's really like it. </p>
<p>thanks to everyone who responded. i'm really excited that so many people took the time to give me advice.</p>
<p>today i participated once in my english class! we're discussing a novel we read..and the teacher asked us two simple questions--"what is the narrator's tone? can we trust the narrator?" when he asked that, i realized i had nothing to say to those questions even though i had read the entire book. for some reason, i have a really hard time analyzing large works..its really hard for me to step back and look at the entire picture if something is 450 pages long instead of 10. i just feel that there are so many things going on in a long work, and my mind gets overwhelmed and blocked up. but, anyway, eventually i did muster something out about the author's tone, and the prof brought up my point later in the discussion.</p>
<p>i'm worried now b/c i haven't participated in my history class for two weeks..and on tuesday we're going to be discussing machiavelli's discourses!!! very long!! i'm taking notes..i just hope i'll have something to say on tuesday..</p>
<p>Don't lose sight of the fact that it is your first semester. Logically speaking, you will probably get more comfortable as time goes by. I know that I was MUCH more comfortable contributing as a junior and senior than I was first semester freshmen year.</p>
<p>I just want to add that I think I've experienced what you are experiencing for the last two or so days. I find myself about to say something and then I see that the class discussion starts shifting to another topic. You don't want to be rude and disrupt someone while they're shifting to another subject. Yet at the same time you don't want to lack in participation.</p>
<p>The worst thing is that I have the same problem in the clubs I'm in. I so want to say something then as soon as I think of it the topic has become too different. For some reason I can talk like crazy if I'm with one other person or talking to a large group of people (public speaking), but if I'm with a small group of people I totally freeze up.</p>
<p>Like today I was talking to the club (don't remember what it was about) but then I see that someone got annoyed by what I said (can tell by his actions).</p>
<p>You've said things like " i just feel that there are so many things going on in a long work, and my mind gets overwhelmed and blocked up." and " I'm a slow thinker--I need a few minutes to gather my thoughts." This makes me think you are not approaching the material in the best manner. As far as analyzing material and thinking on your feet might think that you either can do it or you can't, but this isn't true. Its a skill like any other, and its trainable.</p>
<p>Let me make an analogy to sports, such as tennis. Its true few people can be ranked in the top 100 in the world. But that doesn't mean that most people can't play tennis at some level. And furthermore most people can improve their game if they are trained to use proper technique for serving, forehand, and so on. Everyone gets better with practice, and they progress even faster if they are practicing the proper techniques. You may eventually be able to deliver a good serve with your wrist rigid and elbow crooked, but you'll do better if you use the right approach.</p>
<p>Studying is no different. A few geniuses can skim material and then discuss it at length. Few people have this skill, but everyone CAN improve their ability to organize material in their mind, respond to questions, write essays, and so on. A problem many college students face is, ironically enough, their own intelligence. HS is geared to the average student, not necessarily the college bound. Many bright kids are not challenged in HS and are able to do quite well with inefficient study habits, sub-optimal methods for analyzing material they read, etc. This changes in college when everyone around you is a college student, too, and at the next level. Furthermore many students aren't getting what they should out of the material they study; for example, when they read a novel they read every word but its kinda like a word salad, sentence after sentence, but they don't take much away from it at the end of a chapter (or the book).</p>
<p>So here are the suggestions. First, if your school has study skills classes or tutorials then you should take advantage of them. Don't be shy about asking your profs or fellow students for tips on studying, organizing material, etc. Second, there is a book I've recommended several times that I think every college student should own. Its called "What Smart Students Know" by Adam Robinson, one of the cofounders of the Princeton Review prep program. It really spells out what good students do, and explains how anyone can do the same. There is an entire chapter starting at page 145 that explains how to read novels and the like and extract meaning from them. It explains how to change from a passive learner to one that is involved in what they're studying, and this makes all the difference.</p>
<p>Here is a link to an article, "How to Read in College", written by Prof. Tim Burke at Swarthmore. It's really good and finishes with a section on preparing for class discussion. Burke has a companion article, "Beyond the 5-Paragraph Essay", that is equally good.</p>
<p>Also, there is a three-day study skills seminar that takes place the last three days before the start of second semester, when you will probably be dying to get back to campus anyway. It is mostly taught by upperclass students and covers a lot of practical strategies. My D signed up for it and found it worthwhile.</p>