Partner Talk

When I started my teacher training, I was dubious about the idea of partner and group work. As a child I’d been the one to take the lead in a team and try to give others direction. But ultimately, in order to make sure it was completed correctly, I’d be all too keen to do it myself (a sentiment that remains with me to this day). With these thoughts in mind, I wasn’t sure it would be an effective way to guarantee all pupils were learning in equal amounts.

Skip forward a few months into my time in the classroom and my initial doubts were confirmed. Group work was messy, loud, unfocused and didn’t appear to result in much learning at all. Opportunities for pupils to ‘discuss’ topics or share ideas around a table were taken as chances to have a chat about their weekend plans or sneak a handful of crisps out of their bag. Day after day, lesson after lesson, I was endeavouring to cement my routines with six different groups of pupils and then one collaborative activity would alter the classroom expectations and shatter all my efforts. It just didn’t make sense.

After a few attempts, I decided it just wasn’t for me. I put my tables into rows and kept them there. I expected silence during written work and all discussion was as a whole class, led by me. Through reading and researching I found the arguments and evidence which I felt I needed to back up my position to PGCE tutors and settled in to teaching my lessons instead of facilitating irrelevant noise.

Recently, however, I’ve changed my mind about collaboration. Over the last few months, I’ve been embedding partner talk into my lessons. The fundamental problem wasn’t pupils talking or working together; It was the way I was structuring how they did that. To be effective, this depended on size, specificity of task and speed.

Size: Talk is most productive in pairs; any more than two and someone gets left out or can sit back and opt out. All pupils in my classes have a partner next to them so know exactly who they need to work with each time. This removes a discussion about choosing partners and allows me to manipulate the seating plan accordingly.

Specificity: ‘Discuss X’ is far too vague an instruction for most pupils and leads to wasted learning minutes. I’ve found that questions are the best way to structure partner talk: closed questions with definitive answers (e.g. how did Mr Hyde murder Sir Danver’s Carew?); more open questions which require evidence to support (e.g. why does Mr Utterson feel distressed at this point in the chapter?); or opinion questions which encourage reasoning and debate (e.g. why do you think it’s important for people to maintain a good reputation?).

Speed: The key to keeping partner talk focused on the above is to limit the time pupils are given. Most questions in my classroom only need between 10 and 30 seconds partner talk time. I’ve also found it incredibly important to set-off and end that talk time in a consistent and snappy way. I pose the question, say ‘answer with your partner’, repeat the question, say ‘turn and talk in 3, 2, 1, go’. This ensures everyone has heard the question and knows the expectation, and usually results in an eruption of focused talk on ‘go’. I call back with a 5 second countdown, ‘voices off, hands up’ to share thoughts.

On reflection, I was definitely right about group work. What I’ve come to realise, however, is that partner talk is a whole separate activity which can really benefit pupils individually (by giving them time to formulate their own ideas) and drastically improve the standard of the group discussion which follows.