Wait Time
Wait time refers to practice of pausing between asking a question and acknowledging a response. Skilled practitioners of wait time give students the chance to absorb a question, think about it, and create an appropriate response. It also gives teachers a moment to observe which students in the room appear confused by the question. A typical amount of wait time varies from one to five seconds. Longer wait times tend to result in more thoughtful and complete student responses.
Though asking a question and waiting for an answer sounds simple, it is difficult to effectively implement until everyone involved has practiced it and develops respect for the lag period. Initially, wait time seems to be wasteful of precious time. In reality, the overall impact of waiting is far more supportive of learning than a headlong rush into rapid fire responses.
Implementation
1. When asking a question, do so without including a student’s name.
2. Once a specific student is associated with a question, others in the room disengage because they assume that the selected student will answerand no longer have to think about the question or its answer.
3. Use a timer that students can see while they are learning the strategy so that they can begin to internalize how long they have to think before the teacher will accept responses.
4. While some strategies can be overused and may cause students to disconnect, wait time can be used daily and becomes more effective the more it is applied.
Classroom Management
- Before implementing wait time, model the strategy with students.
- Ask a question and wait one to five seconds before accepting an answer.
- Ask students to raise their hands during that time when they feel confident that they have to correct response.
- At the end of the time, call on a student.
- When the student replies, use wait time again before responding to the student.
- During this pause, students will reflect on the answer and decide if they agree, disagree, or wish to elaborate.
