1. Academic Success in the classroom
DAY 4

2. TOPIC: WORKING WITH A PARTNER Working in pairs is the most structured learning activity that involves students working together. Students need to learn how to work with one other student before they are asked to work in a group.

3. • Working With a Partner
Teamwork is an important life skill that is learned in school.  

4. Pairing off: When moving into pairs, students will:
    → move quickly to sit next to their partner     → Speak in a quiet voice

5. When working with a partner, students will:
    → stay with their partner     → speak in a quiet voice     → work ONLY on the assigned activity

6. After students pair off and have instructions, partners ask each other what the directions are to make sure that everybody understands what is to be done.

7. Specific social skills needed to work with a partner
    → Be a good listener     → Give compliments     → Express disagreements (i.e. “I don’t think
that will work, what do you think about
_________?”     → Take turns and share.

8. The teacher will monitor student conversations to make sure all students are making productive use of their time.

9.  Introduce the lesson
“We do many types of activities in our class.  One of them is working with partners. Why do you think that this type of learning is important?”

10. 2.  Teach behavior
“For students to be successful during partner work, its important to
→ stay with your partner  → speak in a quiet voice  → work ONLY on the assigned activity.”

11. 3.  Model the behavior “Let’s see how well some of you can act out what you’ve learned about being successful working in partners. Please find a partner and move your desks together. Everybody MUST have a partner. If there are an odd number of students, one group of 3 may be formed.”

12. 3.  Model the behavior “Using the teen cell phone article from yesterday, work with your partner to determine what the 5 most important points are from the article (the ENTIRE article, not just the highlighted parts). You must then write a 3 – 5 sentence summary about how you can use the information in your daily life.

13. 4.  Check for understanding One reason students have trouble learning behavioral expectations is that they may not fully understand what they are expected to do.  Ask students to repeat back the instructions

14. What did you learn from this lesson?