Scenarios
You begin a session with 3 attendees. Two of them are friends and very talkative, while the other is shy. How do you create an opening strategy to make everyone feel welcome and included?
Multiple answers possible. You could do a brain dump where the two talkative attendees list and the quiet individual writes.
An attendee asks you for your private Instagram.
This is overstepping! Do NOT share your socials with attendees unless you are ok with the professor or other people you work with also seeing it.
What is the first thing you should do with quiet attendees to help them feel comfortable?
Build rapport! Exchange Names!
A group has 3 attendees. One is silently writing on the board, and the other two are playing on their phones.
Assign roles! Have one student calculate, another write, and the last tell the others what to write.
You have a session with 6 attendees. 3 of which are very talkative and 3 of which are very shy. How do you plan on assigning them to groups?
One talkative person with one shy person.
A student talks with you for a few minutes after class about a movie you both watched recently.
This is building rapport and is great! Getting to know attendees makes them more comfortable and more likely to share their experiences and asks questions.
What are some ways that you can help quiet attendees feel more compelled to answer?
Make eye-contact, name call, ask low-stake questions.
4 attendees are working on a problem together. 3 of them are participating well, but the last refuses to, seeming anxious.
Include the student in the group by giving them a specific task, assigning roles, or switch up the groups.
You have a session with only one attendee and they are very reserved. How do you plan to help this attendee get comfortable and participate?
Best answer wins.
An attendee happens to pass by you on the way to your SI class and you both discuss topics related to the class until it starts.
This is building rapport!
What is a good way to make all your attendees feel comfortable with one another?
Do an ice breaker and explain that this is a judgement free zone!
In your session, you have five students. Two are best friends, and the other three are very quiet and often try to get out of participating. What groupwork activity would work best, and how would you split the students up?
Separate the best friends and make sure everyone is participating (assign roles, prompt conversation, apply pressure, etc).
There are many different groupwork opportunities, but something that forces them to all compile their notes/knowledge might help participation (ex: brain dump then fact check with the textbook).
You have a session with 20 people!! Most of the individuals are talkative and willing to participate. However, there are three who are reluctant to participate. How are you going to make sure they are being included?
Best answer wins!
An attendee is upset by a recent exam score and asks how you did on the exam when you took the class.
This is not overstepping, but you also don't have to answer truthfully if you don't want to share. If you are comfortable with sharing, it can be a great way to build rapport!
What should we do if quiet attendees are having a difficult time participating in groups?
Assign Roles!
Have the students separate and do one problem that is relevant to their topic. Then, have the students switch problems. They will try to find anything wrong with the method the previous student has used to solve their problem. At the end, each person has to either defend their position or modify their answer.
You have a session with 10 people where 8 of them are all reluctant to participate. However, lucky for you, there are two eager beavers who love to answer every question. How are you going to get everyone to participate equally?
Best answer wins!
An attendee has recently been in a car accident and has been in and out of the hospital. They are working with the professor to complete a makeup exam, but are very overwhelmed. They ask for your number so that they can keep you updated or ask for scheduling questions in case of another issue or emergency.
Why is a good idea to mention areas that we have previously struggled in the course when we were taking it?
Build rapport, empathize, and make everyone feel comfortable!
The day before an exam, 15 students show up. Most are new attendees, and this is not an exam review session, but all of the students want to study for the upcoming exam. They are talking over each other, and want to do many different topics. What group activity could work in this session?
Do an "around the world" activity with questions from an exam review to cover many different topics.