Increasing Wait Time in Blended Learning Lessons

When questioning students, one easy way to increase student learning and promote higher order thinking is to increase wait time.  Studies repeatedly show the benefits of increasing wait time when asking students to do something as simple as recite sight words or as complex as evaluate the scientific processes used in an experiment.

Often after teachers ask questions, students are only given one second or less to formulate an answer before the answer is supplied--either by a student or the teacher.  The results of this questioning are low levels of thinking and engagement throughout the classroom.  However, when the teacher allows two to seven seconds--depending on the complexity of the question--before eliciting student answers, student thinking and engagement increase markedly:

1. More students answer or are prepared to answer the question
2. Students provide longer more thoughtful answers
3. Students ask more questions and more higher-order questions
4. Students provide more unsolicited responses
5. Student interaction increases
6. Students who process more slowly are more likely to respond

Many teachers have already seen the positive results in increasing classroom wait time when leading a class or a small group.  However, teachers may not have considered the importance of allowing for wait time in blended learning lessons, as well.  I have implemented multiple methods to accomplish wait time in my blended learning lessons, and I vary them depending on the type and purpose of the lesson.  

The first, and most disconcerting method I use mirrors the instructional wait time I use in the classroom.  That is, in the middle of a recorded lesson, I pose a question to the students.  Then comes the disturbing part:  I wait.  Three seconds.  Dead air.  That is really tough, especially when listening to the playback.  Nobody likes to hear dead air.  The glorious part, though, comes when I hear the students responding during the lesson.  No teacher is standing in front of them to smile or offer encouragement, yet they all respond.  Seeing this in action reinforces to me that I need to remember to add clarifying thoughts and specific praise to my recorded lessons as well.  I try to anticipate or take note of specific errors in student thinking that I notice while students are working with me and include specific teaching in my recorded lessons.  Vice versa, I take note of what I overhear when students are working with recorded lessons and incorporate needed teaching or re-teaching into my classroom lessons.  

Think (wait...time...)

Speak

Another method I use during timed PowerPoint presentations is the use of icons at the bottom of the page. For example, if there is a sight word the students are to recite, or a question is posed about a shape or a character in a book, I will use a thinking icon to prompt students to think silently--this takes some teaching.  Then, when the time is up, the slide will automatically change, and a speaking icon or a "hands up" icon will present itself where the thinking icon used to be.  I often change the color of the slide as another indicator that the students are now free to answer.  

The pause button is the final method I have used for allowing students increased wait time.  For example, I may ask the students, in the middle of a recorded guided-reading lesson on a book about fruits and vegetables, to hit pause and draw a picture of their favorite fruit.  However, the ultimate in using the pause button to improve learning is when a student recognizes his own need for wait time and pauses the lesson in order to improve his own thinking and learning.  I believe that it is when we teach students to do this, and they internalize the control they have over their own learning, that the true power of blended learning is harnessed.

Journal of Teacher Education Wait time: Slowing down may be a way of speeding up http://bit.ly/1cmdZXP 

Wait Time http://bit.ly/19csoBj

You Can Be In Two Places At Once

Be in two places at once!

With class sizes on the rise and differentiated grouping a must, what teacher hasn't wished for the ability to be in two places at once?

In my own little kindergarten literacy world, my class size won't permit for any fewer than five differentiated reading groups.  More groups means fewer minutes available to instruct each group, and fewer meetings with each group throughout the week. That said, I struggle to meet the needs of my diverse student population because of time constraints.

If the problem is not enough time to engage with each student group, then the only solution would have to be one that allows me to duplicate myself.  Enter Show Me.  This app is very simple to use and I was up and running with it in a matter of minutes.  I use Show Me to extend my guided reading lesson past my kidney table.  First, I select the texts that I want my students to engage in. I use my iPad to take pictures of each page of the book, and then crop the pages to look neat and tidy using the standard photo editor.  To simplify my life, I put the pages of each book into their own album, so that as I am creating my Show Me presentation, I only have to look at the pictures that are relevant.  When my husband is helping out with the photography, he takes pictures and crops them down on his iPad.  Then he puts each book's photos into its own Photo Stream, and shares the streams with me.  I don't get bogged down in this part of the process, and I don't stress over the perfection of the pictures.  Like I once heard Jonathan Bergmann say, "Do you want it done perfect [sic], or do you want it done by Tuesday?"

Once the pictures are done, I open the Show Me app and upload the front cover on page one.  Then, using the right arrow, I load all of the subsequent pages.  Show Me only has ten pages available to pre-upload on to, but don't worry if you need more, there is a way around that which I will explain in a bit.  No matter how many pages my book has, I always make sure that the front cover is the last picture in my presentation, as well as the first.  That is because the file icon that the app uses to display each presentation is the last "slide" in the recording.

After all ten pages of the app are loaded with my book pics, I am ready to record.  I start each lesson by greeting the children and telling them the purpose for our reading--which learning targets, sight words, text features, etc. we will be working on with this book.  I then go through the lesson just as if I were sitting at the kidney table with them, but with some added perks.  For one, I can use my finger or stylus to write directly on the text or picture we are looking at.  I do underline the text as we read, write out sight words, point out phonograms, discuss letter differences (b vs. d), and many other reading strategies and skills.  If at any time I want to erase what is on the page, I simply click on the eraser and "clear drawings only."  I can do this right in the middle of recording (it won't show up on the posted presentation), or I can pause to do it.

Pausing in the middle of the book also allows me to think about what I want to say next.  I do this often when I am stuck, because there is no way to rewind.  If I mess up, then the only way to erase what I have said is to start the whole project over--from scratch.  Pausing is also important if my book has more than ten pages, because after recording the tenth slide, I can pause, click the eraser and "clear all." Then I just upload the next picture, record that page, and repeat this process until all of the pages are done.

After my last page is recorded, I show the cover again and give the students instructions on what to do next: "Go read the book to a friend. Then put it back in the bag for the next group to enjoy, and have a wonderful day."

There are many teachers using this app in a variety of ways.  Some simply use it as a white board--Kahn academy style while others use it to edit student text. You can even create student accounts so that students are using the tech productively instead of just receptively.  Oh, the list goes on and on, and you can gain inspiration from others by exploring others' posts.  Yes, everything you create is subject to world review. Joy.

One word of caution.  If you create your Show Me account at home, be leery of using the "Sign up with Facebook" option.  Depending on your district's mobile network settings, your access to post new presentations in your app may be limited.  It may not be impossible to post, even if your district blocks Facebook on mobile devices, but it won't be as easy as clicking "Log in with Facebook".