Class Participation

I attend a fair amount of classes in my day to day life. Undergrad classes, graduate classes, Sunday school class and Relief Society meetings (an all woman's class held as part of our church meetings). Sometimes I enjoy noticing patterns in participation.

In mixed classes with men and women more men seem to speak up then women but the women who do speak up also tend to be the ones that speak up readily in all women classes, which isn't particularly surprising.

Personally, I participate better in classes of under 30 then larger ones (although I do remember raising my hand to identify a coati in an auditorium when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade). I have also found that I am less likely to raise my hand in new classes. I usually wait a couple of weeks before being willing to participate regularly. It is also easier to participate when I'm on the front row because I have a tendency to answer questions under my breath and so if I'm closer then the teacher will here me and ask me to repeat it. I usually sit in the back.

Also, the way I feel about the teacher changes how I participate. If the teacher is a friend or at least someone I feel bad for I am more likely to participate even if I don't have anything particularly great to say. If the teacher seems competent and reacts well to other participants' comments I am more willing to comment. If the teacher reacts badly to participants' comments or if they rub me the wrong way and have bad questions even if I have something to say I probably won't volunteer it.

All this is probably fairly common and what most people do so I am only posting this because I didn't have anything more profound to say.