RE: The High School classroom: Self-esteem.
Great read @leilanyarevalo. As a former teacher myself, I believe one of the best ways to assist students in the classroom in relation to their self-esteem is carefully formulated group work that requires an essence of reciprocal teaching. It allows all students a chance to share their thoughts in a smaller group dynamic, and takes away a lot of the stress that putting your hand up in class can bring.
In fact, removing the hands up routine altogether and using some AFL good practises can bring a quiet student to the fore and allows everyone a chance to think.
Obviously, a student only raises their hand when they think they know the answer, otherwise why would they? I used to have a jam jar filled with lolly pop sticks with every students name on them, and after giving sufficient time to work out an answer, I'd pick a name at random.
If the student didn't know the answer, this was as valuable to me as their teacher, as the student who did know the answer. I could then break the topic down into more detail or allow some peer teaching to take place.
Thanks for reading and for your interesting comments. In my class, I take into account any participation, from students who know the answer, from those who don't but have questions , from those who give the wrong answer but what they said is useful to continue the conversation. I am going to read more about assessment for learning. Thanks.