All teachers know them--the students who sit in the back of the room and never make a peep. If prodded, they may reluctantly offer a comment or opinion, but they are so obviously uncomfortable about participating that a teacher may wonder if it is even worth trying to engage them. Are they unprepared or just shy? Do they lack ideas or merely need more time to formulate them? Are they uninterested in the content, or are they afraid their comments will be scoffed at? The authors call them level 2, 3, and 4 discussion participants--those who will enter a discussion occasionally, seldom, or not at all. The authors have found that interesting and valuable contributions and discussions can occur with a change of time, space, anonymity, and voice. Using a teacher blog to post questions and gather student responses gives students that time, space, and anonymity so that far more of them add meaningful contributions. An added bonus is that the comments are available for the whole group to read, reflect on, and respond to. The authors found that the reluctant participants could and would make valuable contributions to the process. For teachers seeking to encourage student involvement, discussion, and collaboration, blending blogs and online discussions with traditional classroom activities during a unit or semester may help to achieve a higher rate of student involvement and collaboration.