Activity: Supporting Belonging Through Participation

When students feel that they belong, they are more likely to feel comfortable participating and contributing in the classroom. Paying attention to who is participating and who is not can provide you with clues about which students feel like they are valued and respected members of the classroom, and which students may not feel as safe.

These reflections and strategies provide ways to start getting a sense of which students may not feel like they belong in the classroom, as well as ideas for helping all students feel like their voices are heard.

This activity is broken up into three stages:

• Stage 1: Track how often students are contributing silently, and through speech.
• Stage 2: After tracking students’ participation, reflect on what you’ve noticed and why this might be.
• Stage 3: Support all students in contributing. Consider ways to help all students in your classroom feel comfortable and safe contributing. To see how one teacher increased student participation and belonging, watch this video: Speak Up.

Download this activity as a Word Doc.