PLN7- Semester 2

Today I read an article titled Quiet Students by Kristen L. This article talked about how a teacher (Kristen) did seminars with her class and unfortunately some of her students did not participate. The goal of a seminar is to say your opinion the topic and interact with your fellow students. Other teachers, like Kristen, grade seminars as a participation grade. So if you do not participate in one of the seminars the student will get a non-grade or a zero. Kristen though knows that some of her honor students are very shy but can see my the reaction in their faces that they are interested in the discussion, but do not know how to say what they are thinking. Now, Kristen asked what's more important--encouraging students to participate, or creating grades that reflect their roles as accurately as possilbe?
This article relates to me because in several of my classes we have small seminars on the topic we are learning and we are graded the same way Kristen and other teachers grade their students. Some of my fellow classmates do not participate in the discussion because they are shy people or they just are not interested. I can tell on some of their faces that they would like to say something and get a good grade by being part of this but are afraid of becoming embarrassed by those around them. Personally it is fun to share your opinions and then hear what those have to say to what you just spoke. It is basically a mini arguement because while some agree with you, others may not. That is the fascinating part. Now, those who do not participate but would like to should still get a zero in the grade for two reasons. Reason one is that no one should be forced to do something they aren't use to even if it is a confident booster. My other reason they should get a zero is because it would not be fair to those who spoke what was on their mind and helped the seminar go on smoothly, because if someone is getting graded on how they are trying to discuss the same topic, then soon the whole class will be doing that.
This relates to everyone because the more people that participate the more fun and interesting a topic in a class can be.