A resource that I selected to support my inquiry is the journal article, “Enhancing Classroom Conversation for All Students”. This article provides many ideas as to how teachers can engage all students in a classroom setting. My inquiry question is directed at learning how to engage all students during classroom activities and discussions, with a focus on engaging quiet and introverted students. This article provides information that is very relevant and significant to this area of research. It is crucial that educators create classrooms that foster critical thinking and one strategy that the article mentions is “think-pair-share”. This discussion technique allows student who are quiet to “find their own voice in class”. This journal article is great in providing strategies for teachers to engage all students and clearly explains why discrepancies in student participation exist in the first place. One thing that really stood out for me was the discussion about the typical raise-your-hand method of answering questions. The article explains in detail how this method creates a two-tier system in the classroom, “those who know and those who don’t know”, which widens the achievement gap. There are many techniques that teachers can use but with the different levels of understanding in any given class, teachers need to know their students to know what works. Teachers must also provide ample opportunity for students to find their voice, which may mean “we use a little less of our own”.

Goldsmith, W. (2013). Enhancing Classroom Conversation for All Students. Phi Delta Kappan,          94(7), 48-52.