I confess that I haven't yet read Chapter 4 - but it is my goal for this week! I just had to share a strategy that might help our students in allowing them a little time to dwell. It comes from a program we use in my district called Making Meaning. It's called Think-Pair-Share. You teach it to the students explicitly and allow for lots of practice, but then you can use it daily all year.
When you pose an idea or ask a question, instead of telling students to turn and talk, you tell them they will think-pair-share. Pose the idea and then give the whole class time to think. Depending on the idea, sometimes I wait as long as 4 minutes (which is a LONG time for a class to sit silently and think). Then, they pair with their partner for a turn and talk and after they've had some time to talk, a few pairs can share whole-class. It works great, and it really emphasizes the need for silence and time to think individually. They become accustomed to using it and start to appreciate the time to think. Another variation is Think-Pair-Write.... you get the idea. :) Dana W. _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
