How to handle passive participants?
Find out what they need
- take a break
- ask for their expectations
- find out whether they are frustrated (too difficult) or bored (too easy)
- do a longer formative assessment at the end of the lesson and before the next
If they think it is too difficult
- give them more things to do actively
- go for an easy success
- do a slow live coding session
- do a step-by-step coding exercise
- focus on getting one thing done
- collect all concepts and summarize them as a table
If they think it is too easy
- use a stopwatch during exercises
- hand out programming challenges
- do a hotseat kata
- organize a coding competition in teams
- let them present their results
- play music during the breaks
- decorate the training room
- use a strong metaphor
- draw a super nice poster
- address all senses
- sweets etc
- do a small physical exercise / energizer after the break
If single participants refuse to participate
- don’t say “maybe”
- address disturbance
- talk to them one-on-one (but do not announce it)
- state your point clearly
- understand them
- avoid loaded terms (“roleplay”, “groupwork” etc.)