Reading and Writing Instruction for Intermediate and Advanced Learners, Spring, 2009, Hickory, NC

Students are given an opportunity to think on their own before sharing with a neighbor. The teacher gives a question for the students to think about. After the students have thought about the question they write down a response on a piece of paper. Then the students are given the opportunity to share with a neighbor. I like the approach because the students are forced to think on their own before they have a chance to talk to a neighbor. Too often my students just take whatever answer their neighbor puts or tells their partner the answer without giving any explanation of how they arrived at that answer. This way the students need to think on their own before talking to a neighbor.