Think-Pair-Share-Square Reading Strategy

What is Think-Pair-Share-Square?
Think-Pair-Share-Square is a communicative strategy that encourages metacognitive reflection,
analysis, cross-articulation, and targeted language use within a specific context and content area.

When do I use Think-Pair-Share-Square?

Think-Pair-Share-Square is a strategy that can be used either as in Into, Through and/or a
Beyond type of literacy strategy*, which promotes interaction among participants/students and facilitates targeted language use across the content areas through various segments of a content based instructional lesson/unit. 1. As an Into type of activity:

Think-Pair-Share-Square can be used to tap into participants/students Prior Knowledge.

The facilitator/teacher can spawn this type of interaction by posing a discussion prompt/topic/theme and allowing students to engage in reflective cross-articulation.

Think-Pair-Share-Square can also be used to build Schemata, particularly if the

topic/theme is new to the participants/students. And, so, again, the facilitator/teacher would prompt the interaction among participants/students by posing a guiding question, after having heard a Read Aloud, viewed a snippet of a video or been involved in an engaging brainstorm collaborative group activity. 2. As a Through type of activity:

Think-Pair-Share-Square

can be used to build reading comprehension as participants/students read through a difficult text (expository/literary) and then turn and talk to their Buddy after every two (2) pages or completing a section of a an assigned chapter. This type of interaction and cross-articulation helps participants/students to build meaning as they read. It also allows participants/students to ask clarifying questions, in case they are not clear on what they have read. If a clarifying question does pop-up in the crossarticulation, participants/students are encouraged to add it to the Parking Lot for Burning Questions to ensure it is properly addressed and answered by the facilitator/teacher. 3. As a Beyond type of activity:

Think-Pair-Share-Square can be used to lead participants/students into using Higher Order

Thinking Skills (H.O.T.S.) after the completion of an entire text or a chapter (literary or expository) to interpret, analyze, compare and contrast events/segments of the text. Again, the proposed questions/ prompts would be provided by the facilitator/teacher to get the participants/students engaged in targeted reflection and cross-articulation.

How do I implement Think-Pair-Share-Square in the classroom?

1. The teacher posts a question/topic/theme to a whole group of students situated in collaborative group arrangement of 4 or 6. 2. The students first Think of the prompt/topic/theme proposed by the facilitator/teacher

3. Then the students select a Buddy from their assigned group and provide that individu al a reflective thought of the question/topic/theme, while the Buddy listens attentively. 4. The Buddy responds by sharing his/her reflective thought in the same fashion, while the first Buddy listens attentively. 5. Then each of the Buddies find a new Buddy (within their groups) and they repeat steps 1-4. 6. Finally, the facilitator/teacher ensues into a Whole Group Share, asking Buddies to volunteer reflective responses they heard from either of their Buddies while they listened attentively.

What are some hints and management ideas for Think-Pair-Share-Square?

Assign Partners - Be sure to assign discussion partners rather than just saying "Turn to a partner and talk it over." When you don't assign partners, students frequently turn to the most popular student and leave the other person out. Change Partners - Switch the discussion partners frequently. With students seated in teams, they can pair with the person beside them for one discussion and the person across from them for the next discussion. Give Think Time - Be sure to provide adequate "think time." I generally have students give me a thumbs-up sign when they have something they are ready to share. Monitor Discussions - Walk around and monitor the discussion stage. You will frequently hear misunderstandings that you can address during the whole-group that discussion that follows. Timed-Pair-Share - If you notice that one person in each pair is monopolizing the conversation, you can switch to "Timed-Pair-Share." In this modification, you give each partner a certain amount of time to talk. (For example, say that Students #1 and #3 will begin the discussion. After 60 seconds, call time and ask the others to share their ideas.) Rallyrobin - If students have to list ideas in their discussion, ask them to take turns. (For example, if they are to name all the geometric shapes they see in the room, have them take turns naming the shapes. This allows for more equal participation.) The structure variation name is Rallyrobin (similar to Rallytable, but kids are talking instead of taking turns writing). Randomly Select Students - During the sharing stage at the end, call on students randomly. You can do this by having a jar of popsicle sticks that have student names or numbers on them. (One number for each student in the class, according to their number on your roster.) Draw out a popsicle stick and ask that person to tell what their PARTNER said. The first time you do this, expect them to be quite shocked! Most kids don't listen well, and all they know is what they said! If you keep using this strategy, they will learn to listen to their partner. Questioning - Think-Pair-Share can be used for a single question or a series of questions. You might use it one time at the beginning of class to say "What do you know about ________ ?" or at the end of class to say "What have you learned today?"

How to assess the effectiveness of the Think-Pair-Share-Square strategy?

1. The facilitator/teacher asks the students to use the following language function and form to share their reflective response they heard. a. Language Function: Retelling b. Language Structures/Stems:

i. ii. iii.

Beginner: My Buddy said Intermediate: My Buddy shared that Advanced: My Buddy shared two main points: 1)_______ and 2)_________

2. The participant/teacher notes responses on a chart paper/white board/smart board/overhead transparency.

Reference: Developed & Modified By: Rosa Alcalde Delgado, Ed.M. Education Consortium, LLC Copyright: All Rights Reserved Source: Whats Different About Teaching Reading to Students Learning English?; Dorothy Kauffman, Center for Applied Linguistics (2007) *The Into, Through and Beyond approach is a Reading/Language Arts framework used to build reading comprehension and writing skills across the content areas http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/strats/think/

Prepared by: GROUP 11 Lou Jamine Garcia Jesusa Madlangsakay Genevieve M. Malinay BSED IV-A

Submitted to: Mrs. Leolanda A. Balilia Instructor