Wait time is the pause you take between asking a question and offering help or the correct answer. While you may have never even noticed that moment, it is surprisingly important. This blog post will discuss just that.
Including sufficient wait time can help give students with learning difficulties or low confidence time to consider their answers. It can also allow time for students to develop more complex answers or for additional students to offer answers.
What is the problem? Likely, you are not waiting long enough. Silences in conversations are uncomfortable, and even more so in classroom contexts. No one wants to add to a student’s distress making us even more likely to jump in early with help or the answer.
So, to start, begin paying attention to how long you wait before offering support. Take note of whether you are jumping in to answer before the student often. Try to determine if your student is having difficulty determining an answer or if he is waiting for you to offer the correct answer. See if you can tell how the student is feeling. Are they nervous? Are they overwhelmed?
Then, use those observations to make a plan. Perhaps just adding some time after your questions will be enough. For simple questions, about 3 seconds is reasonable. For more complex questions, 5 seconds may be more appropriate.
However, if your student lacks confidence or feels overwhelmed quickly, you may need to have some discussions first. First, you will want to assure them that you will help. The student mustn’t feel you have withdrawn your help.
Next, explain the reason you are waiting to offer support. Explain that learning is more than just receiving the information. It also requires that you practice retrieving the information. You will start allowing more time for the student to practice that.
This is also an opportunity to teach the student how to ask for help. The student may need to practice asking questions or pointing out specific areas of confusion, rather than simply waiting or using general, “I don’t understand” statements.
As you can see, adjusting your wait time can help your students grow. To learn more about wait time, read this article from Kent State.
