Think-Pair-Share Gets an Upgrade
POP QUIZ
How many years have we used the Think-Pair-Share routine in our schools?
- 4 years – c'mon, it was definitely in our classrooms prior to 2017, right?
- 14 years – Yes, I remember using this around 2007, so 14 years is possible
- 40 years – definitely didn't use it when I started 32 years ago, was that just my inexperience?
- 140 years – surely, it hasn't been around since the late eighteen hundreds, has it?
is credited to a professor from the University of Maryland named Frank Lyman, PhD (go UMD Terps!). He was formerly an elementary teacher and was one of the first in the U.S. to use cognitive mapping with students. His research investigated how the Think-Pair-Share routine could improve oral communication and motivation for students, and his research results first appeared publicly in the University of Maryland publication Mainstreaming Digest in 1981. [Click on the book and you'll notice an inscription on the cover of that university publication] There is no denying that the Think-Pair-Share routine transformed the way we thought about education. It encouraged collaboration and required students to do most of the talking during class times (scandalous, I know!). It has been a staple in the world of education for 40 years, and my own instruction was greatly enhanced once I began using this as one of my key instructional tools (a full decade after the research results were published).
It's time for an UPGRADE!
Let me begin by confirming that I do not work for, nor is this blog endorsed by Curriculum Associates, the maker of iReady (or any other company or agency, for that matter). I say that because I am going to talk about their version of the routine which has been subtly, yet powerfully modified. This upgraded version of the original routine has transformed (yes, transformed) the way I think about student-to-student collaboration and discussions in the mathematics classroom.
Before I dive into the upgraded version of this instructional routine, let's do a 1-2-3 review of the original Think-Pair-Share routine (or at least how it worked in MY classroom prior to my use of the upgraded version). First, students were presented with a mathematical problem and asked to THINK about it. Next the students would PAIR off and discuss their ideas with a partner. Then I would ask a few students to SHARE their ideas during our class discussion. Sound about right?
Well, here are some of the problems my class consistently encountered with Think-Pair-Share:
- during the think time, many students just waited quietly without doing too much thinking at all – they knew if they kept a low profile, others would carry the discussion
- once paired, students didn't always talk about the math - sometimes the discussion was about the new puppy one of them just got
- when they were talking about the math, some students didn't have much to say on the topic, so the discussion fell flat or most of the talking was done by just one student in the pair
- as I walked around monitoring conversations, it often looked like good conversations, but really some students were not listening to their partners at all because they were so busy planning what they were going to say when it was their turn – or still thinking about that puppy
- our sharing time was often just students repeating what they had said earlier in their pairs without a single revision or consideration for what their partner had told them
Think-Share-Compare
So all of THAT has led up to THIS: The Think-Share-COMPARE routine.
The designers say that this routine helps students "achieve greater mathematical proficiency and rigor within a collaborative structure" – Want to hear how it's different?
Check out the chart below: I share my step-by-step instructional plan for facilitating the Think-Share-Compare routine with students (and the adults I work with during professional development), and I explain why I love this upgraded version so much.
*Unless you have really great vision, be sure to CLICK on the CHART for a BETTER VIEW
