Teacher Toolbox Wt

Wait Time Description: Wait Time is a questioning strategy used to allow students to have an opportunity to think about answers before having to answer teacher questions. This could allow shyer students the opportunity to prepare before having to answer questions, and feel put on the spot.

Directions: Here is a step by step guide to using Wait Time: 1. After instruction, the teacher pose a question, “I need someone to answer me this …” 2. After posing the question, wait for students to come up with answers, one to ten seconds should suffice. 3. Finally, call on a student to answer the question.

When to Use This Strategy: The best times to use this strategy would be: 1. To check understanding. 2. To establish what students already know about a topic. 3. To make ELL students or SPED students feel more comfortable to answer.

Variations: Here are some variations of this strategy: 1. Using a jar with popsicle sticks or something similar to choose a person to answer. 2. Instead of opening the wait time for everyone, combine it with a specific person’s name for the question. 3. Students could use wait time to come up with their own questions at the end of a lesson.