Think-Pair-Share
Overview
Students develop literacy skills by listening to and speaking with others in informal ways. When learners think about a question then discuss their thoughts with a partner before sharing with the larger group, everyone participates and practices their skills, including Metacognition.
Example: Use This Strategy in the Classroom
Learn how this fifth grade teacher uses think-pair-share to help students prepare for writing. When students have individual think time first, they are more equipped to process and answer the question meaningfully. They are also held accountable to a peer to maintain their Attention, which contributes to a richer discussion.
Design It into Your Product
Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.
Watch how Class Dojo builds think-pair-share into its classroom communication platform. From 16:58, see how it enables teachers to create prompts for students to discuss with their partners. This feature also allows students with varying Primary Languages to successfully discuss with a partner, which supports their language learning.
Additional Resources
Additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
Factors Supported by this Strategy
More Cooperative Learning Strategies
Students practice making and finding meaning in their reading through a book club model.
When peers are able to work together to plan, draft, edit, and revise their compositions, their writing quality improves.
Flexible grouping is a classroom practice that temporarily places students together in given groups to work together, with the purpose of achieving a given learning goal or activity.
As students walk through stations working in small groups, the social and physical nature of the learning supports deeper understanding.
As students work with and process information by discussing, organizing, and sharing it together, they deepen their understanding.
When students explain to others, they deepen their understanding and gain confidence in their learning.
Respectful redirection, or error correction, outlines a clear and concise way that educators can provide feedback on behaviors that need immediate correction, in a positive manner.
Bringing students' every day literacy practice of texting into the classroom provides regular, low-stakes practice communicating with authentic audiences.
Writing conferences allow students to share, reflect on, and receive feedback about their writing, which promotes Motivation for revising.
