Speaking Up in Class

Many students want to know how to be more assertive in the classroom. Take a moment to think about why speaking up in class is good. Come up with three reasons before reading on.

Were your reasons any of the following?

• About appeasing a professor or yourself
• Related to the learning process or to social pressure
• Energizing or anxiety-inducing

Now, think about whether your behavior in class lines up with your beliefs about why it is important? 

Speaking up in class, either with a question or an answer, helps voice an opinion someone else might not have contemplated and therefore adds to the perspectives in the room. It can help you to practice advocating for your own opinions and ideas. The more individuals who speak up in class, the safer the space becomes and the easier it is for the more hesitant people to participate.

Think about these reasons in relation to the reasons you came up with. Take a moment to raise your awareness surrounding how you feel about speaking up in class. Have a conversation with a friend about speaking up in class and share your perspectives. 

Bring Your Notebooks and Your Strengths to Class

Everyone has strengths that they bring with them to every challenge they face. If speaking up in class is difficult for you, you might doubt the strengths you are bringing. If speaking up comes easily, you might not realize that there are still ways to stretch yourself when it comes to class discussion.

Think about the following questions if you tend to speak up in class.

• How often do you try to leave time and space for other people to answer questions? 
• What do you think a shy or introverted person needs to gain the confidence to contribute? 
• How can you help facilitate discussion that involves more voices and opinions?

Try to empower others in your classes to speak up because you value their contribution. This will help you immensely down the line as a manager, friend, teacher, facilitator, and employee.

Sharing strengths with each other is what makes teams work, and what makes learning fun and productive. Here are some examples of strengths you might bring. Many of these are based on the book Quiet by Susan Cain, which I recommend to shy or introverted students.

• You do not jump to conclusions or make risky decisions.
• You make connections that other people do not seem to make.
• You like peace-keeping and tend to strive for harmony.
• You are task-oriented and care about getting things done on time and the right way the first time.
• You are humble and do not assume that you have the best idea.

Do you possess any of these strengths? Think about your own and how you can share them and leverage them for class discussions and/or group projects.

Tips for Participating in Discussions

Many discussions are about getting people on the same page. Often the bulk of an interaction in class is helping people align themselves with the topic at hand and arrive at a point where they can move forward together. Not everything that is said has to be new; clarifying and defining questions are essential to getting on the same page.

Your opinion is enough.

You do not need to have a controversial opinion either. I disagree, or I agree with so-and-so is worth sharing and can even produce deeper discussion.

Preparation can get you 90% of the way.

Write out your questions for the professor ahead of time based on your notes and reading. Most instructors ask if anyone has any questions, and this is your cue.

Don't let distractions drag you away from the discussion.

Write thoughts that come up, things you are worried about, and preoccupations on the other page of your notebook. Doing this before class (to help you remember and deal with them after class) will help you clear your mind and prepare for active listening.

Our passions get us talking.

What is your passion? If you are not sure what you are passionate about, think about the thing that you can talk or read about for hours. Use this to your advantage and try to tie your passion into class discussions. Create a metaphor that relates your passion to the lecture topic. This is a good way to contribute that authentically shares some of who you are with your classmates.

Try these strategies for social anxiety.

Create a Facebook group or use your course site to participate in a digital discussion. For many people it is much easier to participate online than in person. Communicate with your instructor(s) via email. The more you communicate in writing the easier it will be for the instructor to remember you when writing a recommendation down the line.

The stance you take can make you more confident. 

Taking a posture of power and confidence will make you feel more confident. Try standing like Wonder Woman or Superman before going into class. Watch this Ted Talk to learn how important body language is.