Issue 109: Oct 18, 2010 Connections Newsletter

How Can I Make Collaborative Pairs More Effective?

Jennifer Partrick
Oct 18, 2010

Having students work in Collaborative Pairs is an excellent learning strategy when it is well executed. On the other hand, poor management makes this exciting strategy a logistical nightmare. To be sure that Collaborative Pairs work, there are a few things that need to be in place.

First, think about how you set up your pairs. Students should understand what speaking appropriately looks and sounds like. You may have to model this for students. Ask one of your peers to help you model how to talk with partners and then let your students practice speaking appropriately with each other. Pose a simple question to your students so they can practice speaking with each other in an allotted amount of time.

Think about are the questions that you ask or the tasks that you assign. What types of questions do you ask? Are they high or low level questions? Questions can have a specific answer or it could be a discussion. There is place for both but you want to be sure that you know the difference between the two. For example, imagine that you are teaching a lesson about matter; gas, solid, and liquid. After you teach each type of matter, you could ask: What is an example of a solid? This is a low level question. A better question could be: Describe the characteristics of solids and identify a solid. Another question could be: What part do solids play in our world? Or, imagine that you are teaching a lesson on gravity. The following question does not show understanding, rather memorization: What is gravity? Rather than that question, change it to: What is the impact of gravity on earth? Or, imagine that you are teaching Language Arts and you are working on figurative language. You could pose this question: What is a metaphor? The next question could be:  How do authors use metaphor? Or, how does metaphor help the reader identify with a charact er? The more sophisticated the question, the more time alloc! ated to answer it.

As you design the questions or tasks make sure that you give an appropriate amount of time for students to answer the question. Think about how long the answer to the question will most likely take the students to answer it and give that amount to time for them to answer it. A one or two word answer takes a few seconds rather than a couple of minutes. If you give students too much time, they will answer the question and then discuss what they want to discuss. Consider setting a timer and once it goes off students know their time is up. Perhaps you could count to a specific number, and once you reach that number, then their time is over.

Teachers can assess what partners have shared in different ways. The key is to know what you are looking for and the best way to get the answer. Students can speak with each other. When students are speaking with each other, teachers must listen to be sure that students understand what they have learned. By li stening, teachers make the decision regarding if to move on or if to re-teach the lesson.

Teachers can ask students to share the answer to the posed question or task in different ways. Teachers can call on specific students to share what they said or students could share what their partner said. Students can also respond in writing. Sharing with your partner is the rehearsal portion, where students are finding the words they need to respond. Once they have shared, students could then write what they said. When students share, they can share their partner's writing. Students can also draw. Perhaps they could draw their favorite part of the story, or draw the literal meaning of an idiom, or draw the layers of the atmosphere and explain the role of each part, or they could draw a picture of an algorithm, or they could draw examples of solids, liquids, and effect of gas, to name a few. Students could share the answer to a math problem using a white board or some ot her device.

Collaborative Pairs is an essential part of any classroom. Be sure that your students understand the expectations, have just enough time to discuss or share their answers or work, and that you use different techniques to have students respond to the question or task.

Where Do We Start?

Debbie Cargill
Oct 18, 2010

One of the first recommendations for implementation is to begin using distributed summarizing with Collaborative Pairs. While many teachers embrace this practice and make it their own, others are more hesitant and cautious about making Collaborative Pairs a part of their classroom routines.

Collaborative Pairs is the base grouping and organizational tool for classroom use where students are paired for the purpose of engaging their thinking about learning during lessons. Talking about new learning helps students to process the information and make sense of it. It also increases the probability that both students will be engaged and provides a safe environment for talking about the learning. In addition, it provides students an opportunity for collaboration and cooperation.

When students are summarizing with their partner, teachers can quickly monitor for understanding. With this formative assessment, they make decisions about whether there is a need to re-teach, provide more practice, or continue with the next chunk of instruction.

In the beginning, it is helpful to teach students about Collaborative Pairs as a routine and procedure for the classroom. Harry Wong stresses the importance of teaching classroom routines and procedures at the beginning of the school year, then giving students opportunities to practice them. The same is true for Collaborative Pairs. Explain to students that in order to create a collaborative classroom, there are procedures that should be in place. Take the time to model for students what working with a partner looks like and sounds like. Then give them opportunities to practice.

Nilda Caraballo of Winston Elementary School in Polk County, Florida, shared these thoughts about Collaborative Pairs: ... Collaborative Pairs holds every child accountable for learning, "it's difficult to get lost in a pair." My "Aha" moment was when I finally realized it's a great strategy to ensure every student is an active participant and it allows me the opportunity to consistently assess the needs of my students. It's only the beginning but as a teacher it's an enlightening experience when students are automatically responding to questions with their partners without the traditional method of raising their hands.