Same Four Hands

At this point in my teaching career, I was starting to feel more confident in my ability to facilitate meaningful discussions. I was excited about this discussion on “Were women more empowered in Ancient Rome or Han China?” in my 9th grade World History class. Towards the end of the discussion I posed a new question, but I noticed the same four hands go up. This frustrated me because I wanted to hear from more of my students. I asked if anyone who hadn't shared yet wanted to speak. But no one did. I then thought about having my students share their thoughts with a partner and do a turn-and-talk. I thought this would increase participation, but I also knew this strategy would take a lot of time and I was worried that I would not be able to regroup the class before the bell rang. I also was concerned a majority of students would use the turn-and-talk to chat with friends. I knew I wanted more students to participate in the discussion, but I did not know what I should do in this moment.