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Intentional Pair Shares

  • by Kelly Harmon
  • March 13, 2019, 2:05 p.m.

How can we get all our students to share their thinking? When setting up for pair shares, students should always know ahead of time who their share partner will be. They should have a title or designation to help them know who will talk and who will listen. Each time students are going to pair share, direct specific students to start the conversation. For example, say "Partner A: explain why you think the character..." Give students a short amount of time to explain and then say something like "Partner B: Do you agree or disagree with A? Is there evidence in the text to support your thinking?"


Intentional pair shares are a great way to help teachers remember who has talked and who needs to talk. Our goal should be for ALL students to share their thinking and listen to their partner's ideas. Whoever does the talking, does the learning!