I’ll define the Wait Time/Think Time process as the time
a teacher waits after questioning to
allow students to think. Likewise, it is
the time a teacher waits after a student
offers a response to process his/her own thinking, and allow other students
to process and consider their reactions and/or other responses. So, simply said
it is the time a teacher waits while both students and the teacher think.
In the spring of 1987, Mary Budd
Rowe authored an article entitled, "Wait Time: Slowing Down
May Be a Way of Speeding Up." The article was based on
research by Rowe while at Columbia University, which found that the average
amount of time a teacher waits between asking a question and calling on a
student to answer is one second. When
this wait time, or think time is so short, students have too little time to
think about their response. They tend to respond with “I don’t
know”, one to two word responses, or typically there may be no response at
all. Research, (Casteel and Stahl, 1973; Rowe 1972; Stahl 1990;
Tobin 1987), concluded when “wait-time” or
“think-time” is extended to between three and five seconds,
the student outcomes are remarkable:
- The length of students’ responses increase.
- The number of students’ “I don’t know” and no answer responses decreases.
- The number of volunteered, appropriate answers by larger numbers of students greatly increases.
- The scores of students on academic achievement tests tend to increase.
There are two critical periods for
wait-time: the first is after you pose a question, and the second is after a
student responds to your question. The first wait-time interval is important to
allow students to consider a question and formulate a response. The second wait-time interval is crucial
to encouraging the student to continue his/her response extending, defending or justifying the idea. This often
requires a follow-up question.
When most teachers initially practice
questioning with wait time, they find they need to give students more time to
think. Most of us would say in general, we need to make a conscious effort to
slow down much of the time; thus, wait time isn’t as easy to implement as it
may sound.
A
Few Tips:
- First and foremost, SLOW DOWN. Wait time is an intentional act; otherwise, it will not happen.
- Remember: Ask, Pause, Call. If you must, count silently to yourself…1, 2, 3, and so on.
- Should you be having difficulty with students calling out during your silent wait time, you might announce first, “I am going to ask a question, and I want you to take a moment to think before answering. I will let you know when the floor is open for answers.” Then, pose your question.
- When you have called on a student to respond, it is important all other students’ hands go down. This promotes active listening, reflection and time for extended thinking.
