Try a little patience

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Classes can be very loud and excitable places. They can be boisterous and lively. They can involve students talking on top of each other, eager to share their thoughts. Sometimes loud is good. Other times loud can preclude thinking. 

The problem here is that if students are focused on speaking and sharing, in an almost, competitive sense, it can preclude thinking. And, as Ron Ritchhart* says, “learning is a consequence of thinking” (Creating Cultures of Thinking, 2015, p. 102). 

I’ve posed questions to a class, gotten ‘engagement’ (measured by noise? Hands?) and assumed learning has taken place. But think about who contributes in class. It’s not everyone. Even if someone puts up their hand, or yells a comment, will their contribution be acknowledged, incorporated or developed? Thinking is not guaranteed.

“As a teacher, I need to create more opportunities for students to think and less for them to appear ‘engaged’. How do we do this? One way is to give students quality wait time.”

You’re probably familiar with the concept of ‘wait time’, of giving students time to think and then thoughtfully respond...rather than rushing in with their first, sometimes undeveloped thoughts. I think we should expand on this idea and give students quality wait time. 

Here’s what this could look like. First, the teacher clearly poses a series of questions. These are written down so students can see them (rather than just hear them), annotate them and engage with them. Second, the teacher asks students to work, individually, through the questions. Third, students are asked to share their responses with a classmate and add to their work. This collective work is then shared with the class.

A couple of other things to note. One, this process takes time. It’s not a case of asking “What is X?”, getting a few hands and responses, then moving on. Two, this process can be challenging. Students need to work individually and potentially struggle. This is deliberate and valuable. Let’s not rush to offer the answers here. Finally, all students have to share their thoughts, even just to a partner. They can’t duck the discussion.

Here’s a quick example. Students have had homework on tariffs, including definitions and drawing graphs. In class, I could ask questions out loud like:

-What is a tariff?

-What does a tariff look like?

-How do we calculate government revenue after the imposition of a tariff?

But not everyone will contribute. Not everyone will undertake thinking and participate in learning. Instead, pose these as written questions. Have students work individually, then pair up. Then open it up to the class. See if there’s a difference.

Be patient with the use of quality wait time.

*Ron Ritchhart is a Senior Research Associate at Harvard Project Zero and a pioneer in having students make their thinking visible. You should definitely check his work out. There’s a great chapter discussing wait time in the book linked above.