A Conductor of "Pigeon-Winged" Books

Lilly Ramos walks into her first period English classroom with a lively spring in her step and places Fahrenheit 451 on the center of her desk along with her packet of post-it notes, highlighters, and purple pen.  Unlike the other students who cling to their Starbucks caramel frappuccinos, Lilly is a ray of sunshine, bright and eager and ready to answer every question.  Her teacher is so relieved to have her in the classroom. Her eyes glimmer when she hears her teacher read Ray Bradbury's words about the "flapping pigeon-winged" books.  And when she hears the words "his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning" Lilly Ramos really gets it. She understands the power of these words; she is ready to share about Guy Montag's zest for watching things burn.

Meanwhile, several of the other students feign interest and nod their heads in agreement as Lilly shares her understanding of the passages.  Her teacher hopes the other students are listening. He hopes her enthusiasm will ignite the others, but the other students are equally as glad that Lilly is in the classroom,too, because they know Lilly is available to cover every uncomfortable silence in the classroom.  By the end of the classroom, Lilly and just three other students comment about the events that take place in the introductory pages of the novel.

If Lilly's English classroom is typical to other  high school classrooms with between thirty to forty students inhabiting the desks, then how is it possible for Lilly to be one of just a few voices that class period? When did the rest of the students learn their participation was optional? I use the word "learn" purposefully here because silence and non-participation are definitely learned traits, and we have seen decades and decades of modeling that has led us to that point.

Here are the kinds of questions that have been modeled to teachers for decades: Who wants to answer the first question? Who can tell me which words in the text convey the most meaning? Does anyone want to read the next paragraph? 

These questions are invitational, and invitational means optional. I used to ask these kinds of questions all the time.  I was so polite!  I never forced anyone to talk during discussion time. What I didn't realize though was I was implicitly inviting students to opt out.

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I never used questions like these when I had students write.  I just told them to write. I told them to write because I wanted them to develop confident voices.  I told them to write because I considered the piece of paper to be a safe place for students. I wanted them to take time to reflect on their thoughts before committing them to paper. I'd always needed a bit more processing time than my classroom peers, so the paper was a safe place for me. Why I never thought to transfer my democratic philosophy of the writing assignment to the practice of classroom conversations and discussion really confounds me now.

It is why structured questioning strategies are so incredibly important in engaging all voices in our classrooms. I now use structures to ensure that every single student in the classroom is answering my questions.

Participation is no longer optional.