The Unteachables Podcast

#89: BEHAVIOUR BITE: On average, teachers pause for... (🤚 Guilty)

• Claire English • Season 5 • Episode 89

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Today’s Behaviour Bite is all about a simple yet powerful practice: asking and pausing—for much longer than you (probably) already do.

IN THIS EPISODE, I DISCUSS:

  • The common tendency among teachers to rush through questions: After asking if there are any questions, many of us move on immediately, often before giving students a chance to respond. Research shows that the average pause is just 0.9 seconds—far too short for effective processing.
  • Understanding different types of thinkers: Some students process information internally, while others think out loud. Those who need time to reflect often don’t feel comfortable speaking up if we don’t allow enough pause. By waiting longer, we create space for all students to formulate their thoughts and questions.
  • The impact of extended wait times: Studies indicate that 5-15 seconds of silence can significantly enhance student engagement and response quality. For example, when giving instructions, you can say, “Okay Year 8, before we get started, what questions do you have? I’ll give you 10 seconds to think.” This approach encourages deeper reflection and more meaningful contributions.

This week, challenge yourself to extend your pauses when asking questions or giving instructions. Tune in to how much time you currently provide and consciously increase it. Observe how this impacts your students' clarity and the depth of their responses during discussions.



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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Behaviour Bites. One quick tip per week that you can put into action immediately to help you crush your classroom management. This is your host, Claire English, and this is your Bite of the Week. Hello, hello.

Speaker 1:

Today's Behaviour Bites is ask and pause. For way longer than you probably already do, I spent many, many, many, many years going through instructions and then going any questions? Nope. Okay, great, let's get started. Not only was the pause minuscule, but the way that I was asking wasn't exactly inviting a bunch of questions, if there were any, and I know that I'm not alone. I've done many observations across all different classes, across countries, and I know that the pause is teeny tiny. And that aligns with the research, because the research shows that the average teacher pause is just 0.9 seconds, when most of us need far longer to get those thoughts brewing.

Speaker 1:

So let's just quickly talk about the way students do process information. This is taken from a wonderful Edutopia article called Extending Silence and I will pop the link in the show notes if you're interested in reading more about that. But it basically explains that some students prefer to silently process the content. They keep it in their own heads, and these students are the internal thinkers. Then there are the external thinkers, and these thinkers are the ones who prefer to talk or express their thinking out loud, with those around them as a sounding board. We rely on these external thinkers. They're the ones that we can count on to say something in those couple of seconds we wait. They're the ones that fill the silence. We're like sweet talk away, but they are still shaping their ideas as they talk. Even they haven't had sufficient time to fully process things, but they're just talking anyway. Then those internal thinkers they're definitely not talking. They've had the same insufficient time, but they wouldn't feel comfortable responding like the external thinkers are. So even if you are asking questions at the moment and you're pausing for a second to three and you're getting a few answers to your questions, it's likely that they're not going to be the best they could be, or the most meaningful or reflective of the knowledge or understanding in the room. So the solution to this is to just wait longer. Just wait longer. Just by increasing the amount of time you actually give to students, you're going to allow them to actually process the information and formulate a question if needed. So studies show that five to 15 seconds is actually more impactful, which, if anything like me and you immediately want to feel the silence is painful. It does feel like a painfully long amount of time, but it actually feels so much worse for us than it really is in the moment.

Speaker 1:

So I'll talk about it in two contexts when I'm giving instructions and then ask for questions. In that context I will say okay, you're right. Before we get started on that, what questions do you have? I'm going to give you 10 seconds to think. Sometimes I get no questions, sometimes I get a handful.

Speaker 1:

But the most important thing is I haven't felt the need to rush it. I haven't felt the need to fill that awkward silence and my students have the chance to actually just give it a little bit of a thing about what they'd like to ask before they ask it and just say, in the context of discussing a text, as an English teacher I might say to my students Lady Macbeth is trying to wash her hands, but the blood is indelible, it won't wash off. What does that represent? I'm going to give you 30 seconds now to have a think and I'm popping the timer on. And I will pop the timer on sometimes because that's less me going doo-do-do and standing up the front quietly and us kind of giving each other the side eye. It actually gives us something else to kind of refer to and look at.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so you have a challenge for the week and that challenge is just to tune in to how much time you're actually giving your students to think before responding. Extend that time, see how it impacts students moving into tasks with clarity. See how it impacts the questions that you're getting or the responses that you're getting. See if they're more in-depth, see if they're thoughtful. See if you have responses from students that you usually never hear from because the external thinkers are always jumping in, but these internal thinkers that have had to have a little bit more time to formulate their answers finally go. Eureka, I'm going to be sharing something now because I've had a chance to think it over and I feel more confident.

Speaker 1:

Okay, that was your weekly behavior bite. I look forward to seeing you next week for another. Bye for now. This behavior bite was brought to you by the Behavior Club, my wonderful membership for teachers, where every single month, I'm releasing training around a focus area. Quality resources to lighten the load in every sense of the word, a brilliant community that I'm in daily answering questions and giving personalized support, and just so much more. So consider this my personal invite to come on in, take a look around, and I absolutely can't wait to see you there. Help you feel, help you feel confident, help you feel capable and just crush classroom management. Head to the-unteachablescom forward, slash TBC or find the link in the show notes. Me and my behavior. Clubbers are popping on a cuppa and pulling up a seat as we speak.

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Claire English

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