Think-Pair-Share

Activities

There are endless possibilities for think-pair-share activities in any classroom. This grouping strategy is effective for student accountability, as each student has to participate. Rather than tune out, students have to take an active role in the activity presented. Think-pair-share is a great strategy when a teacher notices that everyone has something to say. Not everyone can be heard from, so having students turn to their partner is helpful for management and to make every student feel like his or her ideas are being heard. I like to use think-pair-share as a way to give think time to those students who don’t naturally come up with a good idea immediately. They can think before participating and not have to try to compete with students who are super-fast processors. A final great reason to use this strategy is that insecure, shy, ELL, or not strong academic students can listen to a partner’s idea first and then try their own idea out. They also might find out that their idea was the same as their partner, giving them more confidence. I teach third grade, and I can use this strategy in countless situations.

Think-Pair-Share Activity Ideas

·      Reading: Making predictions, comparing and contrasting, making meaning, asking questions about a test or passage

·      Writing: Editing teacher’s writing, generating lists (transition words, synonyms…)

·      Math: Figuring out how to solve a story problem, strategizing steps for a challenging problem

·      Science: Making predictions, KWL brainstorming

·      Social Studies: Responses to a controversial topic, possible solutions to a problem

·      Every subject: Share prior knowledge and/or experiences to build background knowledge and a connection to new material

Accountability

It is a good idea to set some simple guidelines and model the think-pair-share procedure before beginning. While it may seem uncomplicated, it will only be effective if students clearly understand what is expected during this time. Even with explicit instructions, I still find certain pairs need more supervision and guidance through this process. As I mentioned above, the think-pair-share model has accountability embedded because it eliminates the one student response in favor of every student responding. The large percentage of students who would never think of participating and would never have to because of the five to seven students who always have a quick hand raised, are put into the position of being active participants. They are forced to think and interact with another person. Whether they are right or wrong, they are actively thinking, which is more than can be said about they typical hand raised scenario.

Think-Pair-Share Accountability Ideas

·      Randomly select groups to share

·      Have partner one share partner two’s response with the class or with the teacher

·      ELL’s or other struggling students share second

·      Include a writing component such as a graphic organizer or white board quick written response

·      Have one pair share with another pair

·      Have one or two pairs work together to come up with one combined response