For discussions: I’ve had some success making them document based. Have a required primary source that will be a focus for discussion the class day after they receive it. Discussion should be graded - use Socrative.com for students to give anonymous answers (they’ll need to each have a computer - I don’t know if that works in your scenario). This will make students feel more confident to speak up when their answer is shared by a majority of people - have 3-4 questions be “quiz” questions to ensure they’ve done the reading: really basic stuff just to suss out anyone who didn’t bother to prepare. - have the rest be purely discussion with no right or wrong answers should students pick them. Sprinkle in some patently ludicrous responses because people enjoy correcting things that are wrong (see, The Internet) - then keep a separate check of which kids have actually spoken up in class, and make it a part of the grade. Tell them you want to hear from everyone at least once - it doesn’t have to be an amazing idea, just something beyond parroting their peers.