Categories: GSI Online Library, Teaching Effectiveness Award Essays
By Julia Paris, Economics
Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2026
Why should we care about taxes? Should cellphones be banned in schools? What should be the role of the social safety net? These are the questions that students confront in a class on Using Economics for Public Policy. When I started teaching, I envisioned my sections filled with engrossing discussions about these topics and more; I wanted my students to explore what a just society might look like and how economic policy could help us get there. But when I posed questions to my section, I was met with silence. Students were reluctant to speak up. Discussions fizzled quickly, and asking follow-up questions or prompting small group breakouts didn’t seem to be helping.
A few weeks into the semester, I tried something new. Students walked into section to find a question projected on the board. I handed out index cards and gave them a few minutes to write their names and answers. I read through their responses while the class worked through a group exercise. When we reconvened, I used the cards to guide discussion, inviting students to share based on what they had written. Not only did this let me prompt discussion by encouraging students to share interesting thoughts they had already articulated, but I was also able to intentionally introduce a range of viewpoints and draw in quieter voices.
The results were immediate. We had rich discussions on real-world topics that tied back to course material: we explored correlation versus causation through a debate about cellphone bans in schools. The equity-efficiency tradeoff came alive in a discussion about taxes. Students who had never spoken up in section were now part of the conversation. By encouraging participation and giving me insight into student thinking, the cards addressed both sides of the discussion problem: student reluctance and my inability to call on the right person at the right moment.
The index card question became a section ritual. After class, I read through every response while using the index cards to record attendance, getting to know my students in the process: their interests, their economic intuitions, their views on what a fair society looks like. Over time, the ritual expanded. Some weeks the question was a check-in: “how are you doing?” Others, it was a prompt for upcoming work: “what topics are you considering for Memo 2?”
The most important assessment came around week ten, when I replaced the usual question with: “What is going well, and what would you change about section?” The feedback was constructive and telling — many students said the discussions were a highlight. But I had been gathering evidence all along. The clearest sign that the method was working was behavioral. Early in the semester, I relied on the cards to draw students into conversation. By the end, a broader group was speaking up on their own. The cards had done their job — not just as a tool for a single class, but as a way of building a discussion culture over time.
The daily question turned out to be a win on many dimensions. Students played an active role from the moment they walked into class. I got to know all of them — not just the ones who came to office hours or raised their hands — on an individual basis. And the cost was modest: five extra minutes at the start of class, five minutes of review time afterward, and a thousand index cards.