Pair Work
There are many opportunities for paired work in lessons but, often, there is little guidance for pupils about the best way to organise themselves to make the task successful. Establishing ground rules for pair work is a good way to focus pupils on the need for this work to be treated seriously. Emphasising the need to support each other's contributions and the need to move the discussion on so that it achieves its purpose are important.
Look again at the posters:
Rules for listening poster (24 KB)
Talking better poster (25 KB)
Activities
1 With a colleague, highlight those rules that you think are particularly important if pupils are to work effectively in pairs.
By using the posters to reinforce the ways of working effectively, you could help to ensure that pupils are aware of the best ways to organise their time in a paired discussion.
2 Watch the video clip of a teacher, Claire Hulbert, setting a task for pupils to work on in pairs, and their subsequent response.
School A, Year 7 - Pair Work (01:14)
You can watch the video via 56k modem or slow (100kbps) / medium (256 kbps) / fast (400kbps) / very fast (800kbps) broadband connections. Alternative format Flash video. You do need to have the flash plugin.
Transcript (21 KB)
Discuss with a colleague how, if at all, you might support the quality of the discussion and pupils' learning.