Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
That awkward silence!
Just like on a first date, finding something to talk about.
White space that we just want to get out of!
But it's so telling!
Tick.
Tick.
That awkward silence!
Just like on a first date, finding something to talk about.
White space that we just want to get out of!
But it's so telling!
We're all afraid of the awkward silence. We ask questions. Students don't answer. Often in an attempt to alleviate the awkwardness of the moment, we jump in with the answer, or give very low level clues to help the student arrive at the answer. Sometimes they get the answer right. They guess what's in our heads. They got the final product we wanted.
But they don't really learn anything. Except one thing.
They learn to become passive, because if they wait long enough, the teacher will give them the answer. Is that a college and career ready skill?
But they don't really learn anything. Except one thing.
They learn to become passive, because if they wait long enough, the teacher will give them the answer. Is that a college and career ready skill?
So, instead of fearing the awkward silence, think of it as a chance to wear your assessment hat. Yesterday, I was working with a 1st Grader. Her teacher and I were assessing her reading level. Based on last year's work, we started her assessment at Level E. "Oh that's easy," she said. "I read lots of books like that last year." She began reading a book called In the Mountains by Mary Cappellini. The first line reads, "I saw an owl inside a tree." She bravely attacked the words on the first page.
"I...was...an...I don't know that next word," she told me, her eyes waiting anxiously for me to give her the word. "What do you think?" I asked.
Silence.
More silence.
Her teacher hedged in her seat. So did the student. She went back to the text. "Owl...I saw an owl in-...[looking at picture of the owl]...inside the tree." Wow! She got the word right, but she also learned from the reading.
She read the next page. The words said, "I saw a deer stare at me." She read the words, "I...was [notice that? same mistake again!]...a...[long pause]...deer...I saw a deer...st...[very long pause]..." It was getting half-past awkward, over 2 minutes, so I said, "stare, do you know that word?"
"Yes, I have staring contests with my brother all the time!" she said. Clearly, she knew the word. "So, finish up the sentence," I told her. "I saw a deer stare at me," she said.
"I...was...an...I don't know that next word," she told me, her eyes waiting anxiously for me to give her the word. "What do you think?" I asked.
Silence.
More silence.
Her teacher hedged in her seat. So did the student. She went back to the text. "Owl...I saw an owl in-...[looking at picture of the owl]...inside the tree." Wow! She got the word right, but she also learned from the reading.
She read the next page. The words said, "I saw a deer stare at me." She read the words, "I...was [notice that? same mistake again!]...a...[long pause]...deer...I saw a deer...st...[very long pause]..." It was getting half-past awkward, over 2 minutes, so I said, "stare, do you know that word?"
"Yes, I have staring contests with my brother all the time!" she said. Clearly, she knew the word. "So, finish up the sentence," I told her. "I saw a deer stare at me," she said.
What did her teacher and I learn? We learned a lot more than if we had just given her the words. We learned a lot more than what her level is or isn't. We learned a lot about how she reads.
We learned that when she can't decipher words, she goes for the visual cuing system, and not the meaning, and not so much the structural. She goes for those once she has some footing based on visual cues. We learned that in a heavily pattern-based Level D text, she doesn't recognize the patterns in the text. We learned that even though she knew words like "stare," she didn't recall her bank of familiar words. All this sets us up for our next few conferences!
We learned that when she can't decipher words, she goes for the visual cuing system, and not the meaning, and not so much the structural. She goes for those once she has some footing based on visual cues. We learned that in a heavily pattern-based Level D text, she doesn't recognize the patterns in the text. We learned that even though she knew words like "stare," she didn't recall her bank of familiar words. All this sets us up for our next few conferences!
But most importantly, we learned that if we used enough wait time, we would learn so much more about the child's process of thinking and learning than in hearing her get the answer right by just repeating it after us.
This happened in reading. The same silence of wait time can happen in writing, math, science, social studies, art, music, foreign language, driver's ed, discipline, anything! If you wait long enough, you'll learn a tremendous amount about the student's learning, and the road map of how to reach and teach them will magically unfold in front of you!
An awkward silence is a learning silence!
This happened in reading. The same silence of wait time can happen in writing, math, science, social studies, art, music, foreign language, driver's ed, discipline, anything! If you wait long enough, you'll learn a tremendous amount about the student's learning, and the road map of how to reach and teach them will magically unfold in front of you!
An awkward silence is a learning silence!
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