Partnerships

We know mathematics instruction should take a hands-on, language-based, problem-solving approach. Students learn best when they are actively inventing, constructing, and discussing new knowledge. This new knowledge is more meaningful to students if they can relate it to what they already know and interpret it based on previous experience. When learning is a social process, involving sharing, explaining, and assessing, students do not think of it as a meaningless rote activity. Unfortunately, the establishment of partnerships is an important step that is often missed when establishing student learning teams.

Partnership logistics:

• Students are seated in four- to fi ve-member teams. Within those teams, teachers assign each student a number 1–4 (or 5 for fi ve-member teams).
• Students should be organized heterogeneously in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, and ability.
• Teachers assign partnerships within each team (Example: Numbers 1 and 2 will be partners, and numbers 3 and 4 will be partners.).
• Partners are responsible for helping each another with activities and learning.
• Partnerships within these teams should check in with each other.

Research has proven that collaboration between peers can result in the following opportunities and skills development, resulting in positive effects on student achievement:

• Development of oral-language and communication skills
• Cognitive-rehearsal opportunities (cognitive elaboration, or the restructuring of new information in a learner’s mind) 
• Opportunities for clarifi cation and reteaching by peers
• Metacognitive thought and discussion

During Teamwork, students work with partners or teammates to master the skill. Teamwork practice gradually transitions into independent practice and peer assessment to prepare students for the independent demonstration of the targeted skill or strategy.

• Prompt skill or strategy use.
• Prompt application of the skill.
• Reinforce and provide feedback to guide skill or strategy use.
• Offer targeted feedback, recognizing effective skill usage and offering suggestions to correct ineffective skill usage.
• Monitor independent practice and peer assessment.

Strategies for Partnerships

Partnerships can be utilized throughout any PowerTeaching: Mathematics lesson using the following strategies:
 

Think-Pair-Share
Think-Pair-Share provides students with the appropriate time to think when formulating answers to questions. Students should know who their partner will be in advance. If you have an odd number of students, place the extra student with an existing pair to make a triad. (See the Workshop Routines section for full directions on Think-Pair-Share.) This strategy is great for ensuring that all students, not just those called upon, have an opportunity to think and then share their answer with someone.

Think-Pair-Share encourages students to be refl ective and to thoroughly think through the answers that they will share. It also provides a level of comfort for those students who may not be comfortable sharing with the class, as it gives them an opportunity to rehearse their answers with peers before being selected by the teacher (usually through Random Reporter or another type of random selection).

To ensure that students truly understand how to think through questions, teachers should use Think Alouds to model responses to questions as this process is introduced.
 

Buddy Buzz
Buddy Buzz is a cue used by teachers to prompt students to discuss a quick answer to a basic recall question with a partner. Partners turn to each other, confi rm their answer, and then the teacher uses random selection to pick a student to report to the class. Example: What is the top part of a fraction called?

Partner Pyramid
Partner Pyramid is a signal used by students to indicate that they have completed a task, are ready for the next part of an activity, or have come to consensus. To make a Partner Pyramid, partners hold hands and put their hands in the air to form a pyramid.

Pairs Check
Pairs Check is used when partnerships within a team work together to compare and check the work they completed in their partnerships. It allows time for students to explain their thinking, share different strategies, polish their understanding, and coach one another.