“When we want a child to initiate talk, or take a turn, we need to wait.”
If you provide thinking time,
more pupils will speak,
they will say more, and
what they say will be higher-quality.
Robert Stahl’s 1994 paper Using "Think-Time" and "Wait-Time" Skillfully in the Classroom is now thirty years old but is still so relevant. I love the way he breaks it down – suggesting that there are eight moments in lessons when silence can be valuable.
There’s also a page all about thinking time, and much more besides, in my book 100 Ideas for Primary Teachers: Oracy.
“The concern is to provide the period of time that will most effectively assist nearly every student to complete the cognitive tasks needed in the particular situation. ”
“Exposure to longer wait times is as useful to talented students as it is to lesser achieving youngsters.”
More on thinking time
