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Provide Sufficient Think Time


^21st Century Skills All Ages Strategy


Auditory Processing Expressive Language Listening Comprehension Working Memory Attention Verbal Reasoning Abstract Reasoning Processing Speed

Provide Sufficient Think Time

If your student needs more thinking time and you want them to participate or you want your student to be more deliberate in their thinking

Teach It!

  1. Objective: Students will be able to participate when provided with sufficient think time to process and consider their responses before their answers are taken.
  2. Teacher Takeaways: a) Be cognizant of how much time you are giving students to respond during discussion. After posing a question, wait a few extra seconds before calling on anyone. Since waving hands could make some students anxious, don't allow hands until after the pause. b) Be conscious not to cut off or interrupt a student who pauses mid-thought. While you might need to support a student who has stopped talking, allow for an extra few seconds to enable the student to continue responding if he can. c) Alternatively, you might ask students to write down their responses or jot down notes, rather than raising their hands. Then allow them to read from the paper when it is time to answer or share. d) Give advance notice and time to prepare for students who need extra help.

Why It Works (the Science Of Learning)!

Teachers typically wait an average of 1.5 seconds following a question before having a student respond. When teacher "wait-time" is increased to 3 or more seconds, more students participate and offer better responses. This is especially important for students with slower processing speed. In addition, "quicker thinking" students also benefit from being forced to slow down, give more thought to their answers, and learn to actively listen to their classmates.

Best-suited for students with weaker: Long-term Memory, Short-Term Memory, Working Memory, Processing Speed (Source: Digital Promise Learner Variability Project)