Chapter 7:

Wait Time: Analyze the Champions

Clip 19:
1. How many seconds does Ms. Vargas wait? About how many hands
ultimately go up?
Ms. Vargas waits 12 seconds after asking the question. When Ms. Vargas
initially asked the question, only a few students raised their hands. As she
waited, more hands were raised. Two thirds of the class had their hands
raised by the end of the wait time.
2. What pattern do you see in how many hands are up at each point?
How does that pattern relate to what Ms. Vargas is saying in her
Wait Time narrative?
As soon as Ms. Vargas askes the question, a hand flies up immediately. The
teacher then pauses for wait time. As she pauses she states, One, two,
three people are thinking. This causes more students to raise their hands.
At this point she says, Almost half of the class is thinking. This encourages
the students to raise their hand in order to answer the question.
3. Is Ms. Vargas encouraging group effort? How?
Yes, Ms. Vargas tells the student to turn to her friends to discuss the answer.
This gives the students a sense of ownership in the class and their learning.
Clip 20:
1. How many seconds does Ms. Bellucci wait?
She waited approximately 10 seconds after asking the question.
2. What cueing, if any, does Ms. Bellucci provide in her wait time
narrative?
She says, Good hands. I need some more. This encourages others to raise
their hands in order to answer the question.
3. What else is she accomplishing during her wait time?
During her wait time, Ms. Bellucci walks around the room monitoring the
students. This lets them know that she is aware and looking at their actions
and behaviors in the class.
Clip 21:
1. How many seconds does Ms. Ranney wait? What pattern do you see
in how many hands go up as the wait time and her narrative
continue? How do you explain the pattern?

Ms. Ranney waits approximately 22 seconds after asking her initial question.
The longer she waits, the more hands are raised. As she is waiting, she is
reviewing the definition of conflict and asking to see more hands. This gives
the students more time to think about their answer and as she said in the
video take a risk.
2. What additional information or cueing does she supply in her
narrative?
She reviews the definition of conflict and continually asks the question. As
she is waiting she asks for more hands to be raised.
3. What other champion techniques is she using that support or build
on what she accomplishes through her wait time and its narrative?
She is constantly walking around to room watching students actions and
behaviors in class. She also quickly asking more questions to check students
understanding of the play. This is almost like a rapid fire series of questions
similar to the pepper technique.
Chapter 8:
Everybody Writes: Why everybody writes?
1. 1. Allows a focused starting point for discussion: I think this is a vital
technique to use in my classroom. This gives students the opportunity to get
their thoughts down on paper and gives me the opportunity to circulate the
room and look for possible misconceptions that the students have about the
topic. I could use this technique when reading To Kill a Mockingbird. The
students could reflect on the reading and I can make sure that the class has a
complete understanding of what is truly going on in the novel.
2. 5. Upgrades students memory: This is something I work on in my classroom.
I have the students write their reflections and opinions on a topic. By
physically writing it down on paper, I have found that students are able to
recall the information better than if we just reviewed it aloud in class.
3. 6. Gets everybody to answer: I think this is very important. Many students
try to hide behind the talkative students. They try to blend in in order to not
have to answer a question. By having the students write it down, I can
monitor each students progress not just those vocal students. Also I have
found that there are some students that hate public speaking but are very
efficient writers. When they write it down, they have a script to help them
when it comes to public speaking.
Chapter 9:
Turn and Talk:
This technique allows the students to have a brief discussion with a partner.
They will discuss the question that was posed by the teacher together before the

class comes back together to discuss it as a whole group. In order to help keep the
students on topic and working efficiently, the teacher should prearrange the pairing
in order to cut down on confusion and the time it takes to find a partner. The
easiest way to set these pairs is to have the students partner with the student that
is sitting next to them. One technique that this chapter uses is the in-cue. By
having a word or phrase to promote student participation, it will cause the students
to suddenly snap to life and complete the task at hand. Our textbook uses the
example of Rue Ratray. This teacher used turn and talk in his lesson. He posed a
question and said Turn and talk to your partner: Go! The word go caused the
students to quickly get to work and speak with their partner.
Another way to use turn and talk effectively is to have an out-cue. This is
used to quickly and quietly bring the class back together after the turn and talk.
One example that Lemov uses to explain the out-cue is taken from Amy parsons. In
order to get her students to end their turn and talk she states, Bring it back in
three, in two, in one. Thank you. This gives the students a cue to wrap up their
conversation and sets a time limit. This is quickly bring the class back together with
minimal disruption. Lemov also brings up crest the wave. This has the teacher end
the turn and talk right after the peak of engagement. The teacher should not let
the turn and talk go on too long or the students will run out of things to talk about
and therefore, begin to get off topic.
Precise time limits should also be used with the turn and talk technique. This
gives the students an exact time limit of discussion before the class comes back
together. When a teacher sets a precise time for discussion, he or she can monitor
engagement quickly and bring the class together before they run out of things to
say to each other.

All of these techniques can be seen in the video clips that are mentioned
during this technique. Mr. Ratray had precise phrases to have students engage in
the turn and talk and he got all students back together by quietly saying come
back in three, two, one. In the second clip, the teacher uses a specific phrase to
initiate the turn and talk and used snaps to bring the students together. In the third
clip, the teacher used non verbal cues to tell the students to lower their volume and
when she brought them together, she announced who she would call on and in what
order. This gave the students a moment to gather their thoughts from the turn and
talk.
I will be implementing these techniques in my class. It was amazing to me
how quickly and quietly the teachers brought all the conversations to an end and
moved the lesson forward. By using this technique at the beginning of the year and
using it frequently, the students become trained to listen for those verbal and non
verbal cues. This is a quick and efficient way to have students discuss ideas with
one another before discussing it as a whole class.