Silence is Golden

Not sure if it is proper teaching practice or not, but today I taught a complete class without saying a word. We had a quiz on Friday, so we didn't have to grade anything. It was my quietest class, which has a few bright individuals but its very hard to get them to participate. I'm not sure why I did it, I guess I wanted to see what would happen and how they would react.

It was actually very interesting and funny. I handed back the quiz and then I started working the extra credit problem that only one student got correct. After that, I started into the lesson over solving systems of equations by using elimination through addition and subtraction. I started with just putting some equations on the board and using substitution to solve, which is what the quiz was covering.

The most interesting part is that it didn't take the students long to realize that I wasn't talking. But instead of speaking, they thought that they could not speak either. The students who speak the most in my class were using actions and not words. I even had students starting to raise their hands and hold up numbers for the answers or next line. In fact, I got more participation out of some of the quieter students than normal. One student in particular who usually struggles and doesn't say anything seemed to really enjoy it and actually answered 2-3 questions voluntarily.

Overall, I do think the lesson went fairly well and they understood the main concepts. I almost feel they were paying attention more because I was not talking and they had to see what I was doing on the board. It was good because I had to use actions more to emphasize things. I did write a few words on the board and pointed to them from time to time (ex. done?, fractions are bad, etc.).

I actually had a lot of fun with this lesson and not talking. I'm not sure anyone thought I could go a full 55 minute class bell without speaking, but I did it. I almost think the silence gave some of the students more confidence to participate. I did receive the snicker and giggles from some students when it began, but that was expected. For the most part, when the lesson got rolling, they were very attentive.

Aaron