Class Discussions

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Was wondering if anyone else has the same problem of being unable to contribute to class discussions. I take a long time to formulate coherent representations of my ideas, so I can't spontaneously speak out what's on my mind like others do. They seem so quick to raise their hands and demonstrate their intelligence, while I sit there cursing myself for being unable to transmit ideas to my tongue with such skill.

Yes, I have the same problem. I also have a hard time concentrating in a classroom setting, due to all the distractions, and the fact that I'm trying to take notes and keep up with what everyone is saying. I also never know when it's ok to speak, and what subject is ok to talk about at a certain point in the conversation.

Sometimes, I will inform the teacher that I have a hard time participating in class (I'm in a psychology class right now and our teacher told us to tell her that, otherwise, she'd just assume we weren't paying attention). It's a bit easier for me in a smaller group setting, where I can ask questions at a slower pace, with fewer people to worry about.

It really depends on the class that I am in. I remember that last year when I was in my high school government class, it didn't seem like I contributed as much to the discussions as many others did, which were about current issues in politics. However, my teacher considered my opinions to be some of the best and were ones that the entire class agreed with. This year, I attend lectures with hundreds of students on math and science, so there really isn't much use for discussions. However, I am one of the few people who will regularly contribute comments during the lecture whenever possible.

No, I never have this problem. I am one of the 3 core people in my government class who participate actively in the majority of class discussions. On my report card, the teacher told me that I am an excellent participant in class.

Class discussion is one of the most agonizing times for me. I just don't have the higher level thinking skills that others seem to poses. I'm so concrete in my thinking that I just can't seem to make the connections that others can do so easily. I can do it, I just need to think on it for a long time, and then I usually miss out on the more subtle things. And usually when I get something I want to say, the discussion has moved on to other topics.

The other day in my english class, a discussion topic came up: compare and contrast the writing styles of Nazim Hikmet and Alejo Carpenter. People were going back and forth for 35 minutes throwing out things and going off on all kinds of tangents.

The discussion was going to fast for me to keep up with, I began stimming really bad. It was miserable. During the whole time, the best I could think of was that one might have used a typewriter whereas the other one wrote it out long hand.

I've had class discussion last year. We were only 9 pupils.
People didn't participate at all (they thought the teacher was a nitwit and that this class was useless.), so I did it for them. I felt at ease, because the teacher did everything to make us feel relaxed. I also knew she didn't care for the ideas we developped, as the goal of this class was only to check if we could speak English fluently enough, and to help us improve our spoken English. She told us clearly what we had to do, so I didn't hesitate and I spoke everytime I could.

I used to. I largely solved this problem by "pre-caching" suitable responces pre-empting what i'm likely to be asked, then it's only a matter of selecting the appropriate responce. I've got better at thinking of what to say in real time lately.

Though I still often find I need to go back over the discussion in my mind at a later time to really understand what happened. Recording the discussion or taking notes helps with this.

These days I only participate in class discussons when I can't possibly get out of it, so as not to alienate everyone in the tutorial class by being the only one who read the textbook or otherwise appearing to be a "smart arse". It's unfortunate that as a female computer science student I have to underrepresent my ability or take s**t from the males in the class (who constitute more than 85%)
~EG