Think, Pair, Share (TPS) is an experiential learning activity that starts by allowing an individual to self-reflect and respond to a question, or explore something by themselves before pairing up with someone else to discuss their reflections/discoveries. When in pairs, the two individuals can either just share their reflections and responses  or also find similarities and differences in their reflections, or work together on a follow up question drawing on their initial reflections. Then the pair is invited to share their findings with all the students in class either verbally or in written format.

What is the activity good at accomplishing and how does it accomplish that?

Below is a list of some of the things you can accomplish with your students using this active learning technique. Before making changes to the technique, check (and add to) all that the TPS activity is contributing to your students’ learning experience and make sure you maintain those through the changes that you are making.

• Validate, engage and build on students’ prior knowledge, personal experiences, and stories (through guided self-reflection). 
• Promote a higher level of involvement and participation by creating space for individual reflection which prepares students for teamwork (rather than abruptly putting them in pairs or groups and expecting them to engage in discussion).
• Support logical thinking and deeper comprehension of a topic through teamwork and verbal sharing of reflections. (i.e.: when students collaborate to find similarities and differences in their own prior experiences, knowledge or discoveries or come to a shared understanding based on prior knowledge, experience, etc.)
• Others?

Think/Solo Reflection: 

• Ensure that the question you are providing is clear, properly scaffolded, and that students have any necessary prerequisite information they need to engage with the question. 
• Provide the reflection question both orally and in written format (If possible, provide the question to students in advance)
• Specify how much time students will be spending on reflection.
• Check in to see if the majority of the students are ready to move to the next part of the activity before moving on.

Pair Work: 

• Have a plan for how you are pairing up students (i.e.: Pair up with the person sitting next to you; put place cards on the tables to assign seats for more intentional pairing of students)
• Provide students with a list of tasks written down in steps, and time those steps (i.e: share your reflections, 2 min each, then work together to generate themes for 2 min). Timing the steps prevents one person from dominating the conversation. 
• Clarify expectations around tracking/recording their findings/responses (i.e: are they taking notes?; If taking notes, who?)

Sharing: 

• Give students a (written and oral) heads up that one or both of them will be sharing, and state, orally and in written format, what they will be sharing.
• Ask the students to choose who will be sharing/reporting back.
• Be clear about how much time each student or each pair has to share back.
• Validate responses by recording them in writing or paraphrasing them. (Note: You can record student responses directly on PPT for better visibility)
• For large classes, students can share back by posting responses on an online platform (during or after the class).

Step 1: Identify essential components

Identify the components/aspects of the Think Pair Share (TPS) activity that are essential for learners to meet the learning outcomes of the lesson.

• How does TPS help learners meet the learning outcomes of the lesson?

Step 2: Identify obstacles

• Which parts of these essential components/aspects are an obstacle for this learner?

Step 3: redesign to remove obstacles

• How can we redesign these essential components to remove the obstacle for the learner but still equally support them to meet the LO of the lesson?

Using activity meta objectives to redesign for temporary accommodation:

Below is an example of a redesigned Think, Pair, Share activity while maintaining the activity’s meta objectives. I encourage you to engage in the same process to redesign this activity for other accommodation needs. 

This redesign removes the need to speak in order to engage with the activity, which can be more accessible for students with a speech disability, certain social anxieties, or who need more time to process and plan responses before sharing them, as well as many other students. It also may prove less accessible for students who might take more time with reading, or have a visual impairment, among others.

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