There is a strategy that elite performers use every day.
It’s something that takes just a few minutes, yet can be the difference between success and failure.
Oddly, it isn’t taught in school.
In fact, it’s never mentioned as part of any curriculum, professional development, or pedagogical training. It isn’t discussed among the educational intelligentsia.
It’s as if it doesn’t exist.
So what is it?
It’s a full-stop pause of all activity so students can think. It’s a cessation of sound and movement that enables students to plan, strategize, and visualize the tasks in front of them.
Some students do this naturally. But most, like most people, do not. Instead, they rush headlong into their work without a clue of the direction to take—let alone the steps along the way.
They’ve been conditioned, you see, to begin producing the second they’re given the go-ahead. This is a good thing when it comes to routines and procedures.
But it’s the death knell to creative work. It’s like Alex Honnold attempting El Cap without knowing the route.
Ironically, many of these same students who don’t take the time to think freeze up and take forever to get started. The others simply don’t produce quality work.
The solution to both problems is to require your students to sit and think before putting fingers to keyboard or pencil to paper.
This isn’t a new strategy.
It’s been used for millennia by everyone from Epictetus to John F. Kennedy to Fred Rogers. Patience and stillness. Deep thought and empathy. Quietude while awaiting the fog to lift.
Contemplation should be scheduled as part of every period of independent work. I recommend the following three parameters:
Sit still for five minutes.
Think through the process of your objective.
Wait for the ‘go’ signal before beginning your work.
Those five minutes—or two or three minutes depending on your grade level—will produce better insight and creativity than when students aren’t given this time.
Pausing first is also motivational because it excites students about the possibilities of their assignment. It provides confidence to achieve their vision. It helps sustain energy until completion.
Your students can sketch, chart, or diagram their thinking if they wish, but they may not actually begin the assignment until your signal.
Souls & Sages
In this day and age, deliberation is in short supply.
Students are effectively trained by their smart phones, video games, and even their teachers to react instead of respond with prudence. Thus, there is very little meditation of thought or wisdom accrual.
The remedy is to schedule a thinking break in the few minutes before allowing your students to tackle any important project or assignment.
No need to worry about time lost. As your students get used to flexing this dormant superpower, they’ll become more efficient than ever before. They’ll experience a deeper and more enjoyable state of flow.
They’ll become old souls, sages ahead of their time.
Forethought is a skill, after all. It’s a muscle you train and develop in order to perform at your best, avoid bad decisions, and succeed at the highest levels.
But it must be deliberately cultivated. It must be practiced and repeated every day and before every creative assignment.
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Love this! Thank you for the reminder.
Awesome! Thanks a bunch
Excellent reminder for me and all the adults here! I often will just stop at work, and look like I am doing nothing at all. but I am visualizing, remembering forks in the road, who and what to watch out for, etc. I am giving myself a moment of meditation and accomplish my goals (or not) more level headed.
This is an excellent reminder. One small correction: Many teachers who use comprehension-based communicative language instruction use ‘think time’ as a standard high-leverage teaching practice. I teach (and practice) it in the Curriculum and Methods of World Language Instruction course that I teach. I know other WL methods teachers who do so as well. So, while instruction on this practice is sorely lacking in general, it is not non-existent. We also talk about processing time, giving students the time to process what we have just told them.
I like this a lot. Previously, I would tell my students before starting independent work that I would answer no questions and would not circulate for 5 minutes. Some classes were fine with this, others protested mightily. Yet without fail this always produced the best work…
I put the three parameters on a sticky note and posted on the wall where I get to see everyday. Thanks.
This is great. Much of curricula nowadays is bite-size chunks of brief topics that are quickly “covered” and then “moved on” to the next bite size topic. Allowing students (and the teacher) to think and breathe is a good thing.
Thank you Michael! So many of your suggestions ring true, but are things I haven’t felt validated in doing until I hear it from you. I agree that this is not something we are taught as teachers. In fact, we are taught the exact opposite. A writing workshop I once attended taught us to have the students write “I am thinking” over and over again while they are thinking so the teacher can see they are thinking! I can’t imagine trying to think while doing that!!! Your guidance is helping me to relax and be a “real” teacher.
Thanks for the reminder. Lately, I have pushed this method “behind the door” as virtual learners (most) would take “forever to respond” to a question while hybrid numerous students got impatient. I’ll have to go back what works best. A little reminder will never hurt. Thanks!!
I absolutely agree. I call it a Brain Break after they have learned a new concept. I will say though, it’s a challenge to get middle school students to quiet their minds. 5 minutes is a long time. 2 minutes might be reasonable.
Yes, teachers teach thinking skills. Examples: 1. Think-Pair-Share activities 2.Planning time activities for jotting down ideas for later use. 3.Develop What I know about the subject – What I want to learn about the subject- What I learned about the subject. 4. Teacher posed questions for answering and quiet times during the day.
This reminds me of a timed exam I recently took for a national “advanced certification” in teaching. We were supposed to compose a short piece of music, but barely had time to quickly scratch out the notation, let alone even think about the music we were writing. I felt like this was a terrible way to assess our skills, yet it, along with the rest of the exam, depended on our working at breakneck speed. It’s a good reminder to allow our students the time to think about the task and to develop a solid approach.
Michael,
Thank you for this! As always your writing is the highlight of my week – it makes me a better teacher and makes me feel so excited about improving by trying your suggestions. In a tough year it’s so nice to have that positivity!
Great advice to stop and slow down in this go-go-go world we live in. I often use wait-time before allowing students to raise their hands to comment. I will be including this pause for a few minutes to collect thoughts, develop any unanswered questions, and help encourage creativity. Thank you
How do you use this in the early grades, such as kindergarten? Do any of you have any suggestions? Thank you.