Waiting Out the Silence

"I'll ask the questions, or I'll answer them, but I won't do both."  

I say this a lot in my classroom.  It is usually 30 seconds or so after I've asked a question, and a room full of physics students stare at me, hoping someone else will answer so they don't have to.

There was a time when this wouldn't have happened.  In fact, one of the first pieces of feedback I ever got after a classroom observation was that I didn't give kids enough wait time after asking a question.  Like most Americans, I was uncomfortable with silence; so I filled the time with hints and guidance (in a way I now know was interfering with their thinking).  This isn't unusual.  I observed this morning in church.  Between the first and second songs, there is a time in which we are meant to spend time in silent reflection and repentance.  The music leader spent the entire time talking about what this time should and should not be and then went right into the next song.  Even in what was supposed to be a time of silence, he was so uncomfortable with silence that he filled it with words.  

Silence is uncomfortable, but I now know that it is the most important part of the time I spend in retrieval practice with my students.  If they answer too quickly, it likely means that I have asked them to retrieve information too soon after their exposure to the material for it to be effective.  The best time to ask a student to retrieve information is just before they have forgotten it (knowns as the spacing effect).  The time it takes to search for the answer is important to the myelination of the neuron.  If I interrupt that process by filling the time with words, I am wasting my time and theirs because they won't have time to engage in the act of retrieval.

The advice I was given after that observation 23 years ago was to count to three after I asked a question.  That was good for young me.  I had no intuitive feel for how long was long enough, so counting to three was helpful.  Now, I have a different method.  I look at the kids.  I can tell when they are thinking, and I can tell when they have given up on thinking.  There is a moment in between those two times, the moment of awkward silence.  What I have found is that is the time when I should reword the question or give a guiding thought.  It's just before they have stopped thinking about the question.  I don't know how to explain what that moment looks like to younger teachers, but if you do it right, you might not need to use it much.  if you are willing to wait longer than the students' comfort level, you will usually get an answer before that point.   They will fill the silence for you, and they might do it by giving the correct answer.  If not, they might at least give an answer you can help them build upon.  

Learn to wait out the silence, and there will be more thinking in your classroom than all of the words could ever produce.

Introvert and Extroverts

I am an extrovert.  Anyone who has ever met me would agree.  I'm loud, and I talk all the time.  While neither of those is the definition of extrovert, they are certainly signs.  I don't like small talk and schmoozing at our annual meet and greet, so I must be on the mild end of extroversion; but if I spend more than one day at home alone, I get a little stir crazy.  Last year, we had 3 snow days following a four-day weekend, and I was about to lose my mind before we got back to school.

As a teacher, I have a blend of personality types in my classes - extroverts and introverts, verbal processors and artistic processors, kids with autism and kids who are social butterflies.  Those that are not like me are harder for me to understand, but I must still give them what they need.  It is not loving to care well only for those who are like yourself, so I must learn to care for my introverts.  Some of my favorite students have been introverts, once I figured out a way to get to know them without talking.

If you are like me and are looking for a resource to help you understand your introverts, I recommend the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.  If that's too much reading for you, let me recommend her TED Talk.  A self-professed introvert, she will give you a glimpse contributions that introverts have made in our world and let you see that they are busy mentally while the extroverts are busy verbally.

As I listened to her talk the first time, it occurred to me that this is one of my pendulum swings in education.  Education is always trying to address the needs of some group that has been marginalized when the pendulum was swinging the other way.  For decades, we treated school as a quiet place where students only listened and rarely spoke.  If a teacher assigned a group project, that teacher was considered extreme.  This left the extroverts feeling anxious.  As the educational system started analyzing who they weren't serving well, they made radical changes.  Now, it is odd for students to have a solo assignment.  Collaboration is the default position.  Desks are in pods to facilitate collaboration, and students are expected to communicate for much of their day.  While this is great for the extroverts, it has left the introverts feeling anxious.  

Neither of these models is the right way.  Neither of them is really wrong, either, except that they both address the needs of only one type of student.  We know that we have many types of students in our classrooms, and while we cannot give them perfectly what they each need every minute of every day, we can address each of their needs within the week or day or class period, depending on how our schools are structured.  

I recently heard a speech by Cynthia Tobias, and she gave some great practical advice.  Each day, she said, give your students 

- an opportunity to talk.

- an opportunity to visualize something.

- an opportunity to move.

On behalf of my sweet introverts, I would add one thing to that list.  Give them an opportunity to spend a few moments in quiet thought.  You can actually incorporate all of these into one activity.  You can give them a question that requires visualization and say, "We will spend 1 minute thinking about this.  Paint the picture in your own mind without talking.  Then, get up and walk to your partner (who would, in this situation, not be the person next to them) and spend one minute telling them what you were thinking.  They will spend one minute sharing with you.  Then come back to your seat." This gives the introverts, the extroverts, and the movers what they need in three minutes.  You might not be able to do that every day, but you could probably find a way to work it in once a week.

Using technology will also involve introverts in a way a class discussion might not.  My school as a learning management system that gives us the option to have discussion boards.  I have found these to be a powerful tool for my introverts.  If we have an in-class debate, there are a handful of students that will lead that discussion.  I have always required that everyone must contribute at least one substantive comment, but I had to drag it out of some students.  After we adopted the learning management system, I added something to our debates.  I created a discussion board.  I didn't have the introverts in mind when I did this; it was really just to keep the discussion going.  What I found, however, was that those who had said nothing out loud in class contributed very strong opinions on the discussion board.  They were more articulate and contributed far more than what I tried to pull from them while they were uncomfortable.

I found this infographic online, and I have found it helpful to keep in mind while teaching.  I can't do every one of these for them every day.  For example, it simply isn't possible for me to teach them new skills privately.  However, we will understand them better if we keep these things in mind.  I can give them fair warning before the end of an activity.  I can give them time to think before answering a question (although it will mean holding down an extrovert).  I can respect their introversion and not try to change them.  After all, God didn't create them wrong.  He created us all for a purpose, and we will fulfill that purpose better together if we take the time to understand each other.

The Power of Silence

I have a magical super power that makes kids fall into hushed silence.  It isn't a special hand signal.  It isn't a sound.  It isn't a flashing sign.  It is MY silence.

Kids are used to being lectured, yelled at, told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.  They are used to music being pumped into their ears 24 hours a day.  They are used to beeping, buzzing, and ringing.  What they are not used to is the sound of silence (I wish I could input Simon and Garfunkel here).

When my students get out of hand while I'm in the middle of a lesson, I stop speaking.  I stare at the ceiling, and I wait.  If you know me, you know that silence isn't exactly a strength of mine, but it doesn't take long.  It takes 30s or so for the first student to realize I have stopped speaking; then he usually spreads the word that everyone should shut up.  The whole process usually takes less than a minute.  It takes much less energy and is much more effective than fussing.  They don't care if a teacher fusses because, in their minds, teachers fuss all the time.

The one I keep in my back pocket for the most extreme times is keeping silent for the remainder of the period.  This usually happens when we have played a review game.  I certainly don't expect the same level of decorum for a game that I do for other times, but it is only useful review if people are paying attention.  I usually give them a few chances (because it is a game, after all).  Then I say, "That's it.  I'm done."  I sit down and don't speak for the rest of the period (which is usually only 10 minutes or so if I get to this point).  It freaks them out.  They don't know what to do if a teacher doesn't talk for ten minutes.  In those times, you could hear a pin drop on the carpet.  Beware: Using  this technique too often will make it stop working.  It is the novelty of it that makes this work.

Right now, I'm sitting in a completely silent room.  It is my study hall.  It consists mainly of 8th graders and a couple of seventh graders.  Because they all have the same classes, I usually let them work together.  We are a school that places high value on collaboration and cooperation.  However, as with any study hall, it can be dangerous to let them talk.  My policy is clear.  There is one warning for the volume being too loud or lack of productive talk.  After that, you go back to your assigned seat and remain silent for the rest of the period.  If this happens in the next class period, you will remain silent for not only the remainder of that period but for the next day's study hall as well.  That's the step we are on now, which means I will have to suffer the sound of a silent classroom for the entire period on Thursday.  I don't enjoy this, but it is amazingly helpful.  Last year, we never escalated beyond this point because NO ONE wanted silence for three class periods.  This class is a smart bunch, so I'm sure they'll do the same.