Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Know it all Nancy You plan to facilitate a discussion in your class about readings that you assigned. As students enter the room and settle into their seats, you can feel the buzz in the air. They are excited. They want to discuss the subject. You begin class by asking a very open-ended question, a question designed to allow the students to take the subject in an area that interests them. The first student who responds to your question, a question that is barely out of your mouth, is Nancy, or as her classmates call her, "Know-it-all-Nancy." Nancy is a smart young woman who often has very smart things to say about the subject at hand. She answers your question with great precision, citing arguments from sources you did not require her to read. You know from experience that if you stand by quietly and let her finish, class would be over and no one else would have had a chance to speak. So, you cut her off politely to get other students involved in the discussion. You ask another question,directed at another student. Nancy answers. What should you do next? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) Maybe you could try a popcorn answering activity. For example, if Nancy answers a question, Nancy has to call on a classmate to answer the next. This way, students are given more responsibility for answering questions and are choosing who will answer what in a way that rids of the volunteer-answer or calling-out aspect.