You Asked the Question. Did You Wait for the Answer?

You ask the class a question. Two students immediately raise their hands. Others look down at their books, turn a pencil between their fingers, or get ready to speak. The silence starts to feel long. You rephrase the question, offer a hint, or perhaps finish the answer yourself.

Yet in that brief pause, a student may still be putting a thought into words. When we start talking again, we may cut that thought short. Explaining a character’s behavior, comparing two viewpoints, or giving a reason takes a little preparation.

Mary Budd Rowe’s research on wait time makes a useful distinction: the pause after a teacher asks a question and the pause after a student responds. Rowe reported that when both pauses were extended to around three seconds or more, students gave longer answers and explained their reasoning more fully.

Try this during a discussion of a story. You ask, “Why might the character have hesitated to help their friend?” Before calling on anyone, give the whole class three to five seconds to think. This is a starting point, not a deadline. If students need to return to the text, allow more time. Saying, “Let’s all take a moment to think before anyone answers,” helps them understand what the silence is for.

When a student says, “Because they were scared,” the second pause begins. Wait a few more seconds before approving, correcting, or turning to someone else. The student might continue: “But they didn’t want to leave their friend alone, either.” Once they have finished their thought, you can ask, “What detail in the text made you think that?”

Waiting should not mean staring at one child while the whole class watches. Give everyone thinking time. If a student is not ready, offer to come back to them. You can also let students jot down a word or briefly talk with a partner before speaking. That way, the pause gives them room to think without adding pressure to produce an answer.

Source

Rowe, M. B. (1987). Wait Time: Slowing Down May Be a Way of Speeding Up. American Educator, 11(1), 38–43, 47.