Think-Pair-Share

Think-Pair-Share by: Esther Cha Think-Pair-Share allows for students to formulate individual ideas about a topic and share these ideas with another student. Think-Pair-Share encourages a high degree of student response and keeps students on task. It can be used for any content area, grade level, and is flexible to be adapted for any learning environment.


 * Purposes of Think-Pair-Share:**
 * 1) Builds an environment of cooperative learning
 * 2) Allowing a set "think time" allows students to come up with more meaningful responses
 * 3) Actively engages students to think about the concepts presented in the lesson
 * 4) Lessens anxiety for students since they don't have to speak in front of an entire class
 * 5) Students are able to process the concepts in terms of their prior knowledge. Any misunderstandings about the concept are usually revealed during this process.
 * 6) In sharing their ideas, students take ownership of their learning and learn constructively, rather than always relying on the teacher for learning
 * 7) The teacher can use this as a quick and easy form of informal assessment to make a quick check on what students know and don't know
 * 8) For English Language Learners: allows students to practice speaking English in a less pressured, low-anxiety context
 * 9) The teacher gets to hear responses from a wider variety of students, rather than from just the couple of students who frequently volunteer to respond


 * How Does it Work?**
 * 1) **Think:** Students are given a topic or concept by the teacher to think about for a few moments
 * 2) **Pair:** Students are designated a partner to share their "think time" ideas with. They share their ideas individually and come up with a common or most compelling conclusion.
 * 3) **Share:** After students share with their pairs, the pairs share out with the rest of the class what their responses are.


 * Benefits of Think-Pair-Share for English Language Learners:**
 * **Think:** During the "think" time, ELL students may be putting together language and content concepts often in both their native language and English
 * **Pair:** The ELL student has an opportunity to share his/her thoughts in a relatively comfortable environment. This should help with boosting confidence as they get to "check out" there answers with a classmate, who probably will be an English Speaker.
 * **Share:** ELL students may be less intimidated as what they are sharing was a collaborative effort rather than offering an idea that they came up with "on their own"


 * Challenge of Think-Pair-Share:**
 * It is difficult for the teacher to monitor if all students are truly engaged in the topic discussion. Hopefully, the questions given by the teacher are engaging and interesting enough for students to stay //mostly// on task.

[|think_pair_share.pdf]
 * Graphic Organizer:**

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