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STRATEGY
Pair Students for Maximum Learning
Many teachers who have trouble tackling the problems of group work can find success by using another method of collaborative learning: putting students in pairs. When you have students work in pairs, they tend to stay focused on their work. Further, a student who is having difficulty with an assignment can often get help from a partner. Working in partners allows
students to work out their problems with understanding the material while they are still minor
and builds the confidence of less able students because their problems remain manageable.
Be sure to select the pairs yourself; otherwise, students are likely to choose their friends. Although working with a friend is pleasant for students, it does not always make for an optimal learning partnership. Get to know your students well, and then spend time working out pairs whose strengths and weaknesses complement each other.
After you have announced the pairs, have students move in order to sit near their partner.
Be sure to have a structured activity for them to complete. If you tell students simply to study together, they will not be as focused as they would be with a specific assignment.
Finally, the pairs you establish should not outlive their purpose. Once you see that a particular pair is no longer positive or productive, switch partners. You may also consider
switching pairs at established time intervals. The following are just a few of the many partner activities that work well:
- Check your partner's homework
- Confirm that your partner understands how to do the assignment correctly. Have your partner check over an assignment before turning it in
- Ask for help from your partner before turning to the teacher
- Listen as your partner explains information
- Share the workload when there are many questions or problems to do
- Share resources on a project
- Combine ideas on a paper, project, or other assignment
- Take turns reading the assignment aloud
- Brainstorm facts to determine prior knowledge
- Preview a reading assignment together
- Take a pretest together
- Generate lists of study questions as a review
Excerpted from Section Ten, "Motivate Your Students to Succees," of The First-Year Teacher's Survival Guide, by Julia G. Thompson. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. This material is used by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Thank you, Julia G. Thompson and Jossey Bass, for contributing this month's strategies!
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