Great teaching is built one small, deliberate move at a time. That’s the idea behind our Top Tips series, where we dive into the Teach Well Instruction & Coaching Companion and pull out one practical, high-impact strategy for you — something small you can put into practice straight away, but grounded in the bigger picture of what makes teaching effective.
Think of it as a bite-sized coaching moment: evidence-informed ideas designed to sharpen your practice and spark a few new possibilities for your classroom. We’ll keep them coming in future newsletters, so consider this your regular nudge to try something new, or to refine what you’re already doing, one step at a time.
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This Week’s Top Tip: Pair Share
Pair Share involves organising students into pairs to prepare and share answers together. It’s often used alongside elaborative questioning to extend students’ thinking and help them develop a deeper understanding of critical content.
It’s a simple structure, but when it’s used well, it can transform the quality of classroom discussion — and the confidence of the students taking part in it.
What does the research tell us?
Sampsel (2013) found that “students’ participation increased, the number of long explanations given by students increased, and students’ comfort and confidence when contributing to class discussion also increased through the use of Pair Share.”
In other words, giving students a structured chance to talk before they’re asked to perform in front of the whole class doesn’t just make discussion feel safer — it measurably improves the quality of what they say.
What’s the goal?
Pair Share allows students to engage with new or challenging content in a safe, low-stakes environment. Done well, it promotes several things at once: think time, collaboration, comprehension, rehearsal, reflection, and communication skills.
It’s most effective when pairings are pre-planned, and when each student has equal talk time, achieved through deliberate, directed questioning rather than an open free-for-all. The structure is what makes it powerful — without it, Pair Share can easily default to one confident voice doing most of the talking.
Three things to consider when doing it well
- Save Pair Share for questions that need a bit more thinking time, such as elaborative questions. Giving students a chance to think and talk first helps them develop stronger, more considered responses, without slowing the lesson down too much.
- Follow up by calling on non-volunteers to share. This keeps everyone accountable because students know they may be asked to contribute after discussing their ideas with a partner — which in turn encourages genuine engagement during the pair discussion itself, not just going through the motions.
- Use Pair Share to build confidence before calling on non-volunteers. Talking an idea through with a partner first creates a greater sense of psychological safety, making students far more willing to share their thinking when it’s time to speak to the whole class.
- Decide on pairs before the lesson begins. When it’s time for a Pair Share, students should already know exactly who they’re talking to — no scrambling, no wasted minutes. Giving pairs simple names, such as “Reds” and “Blues,” can make transitions quick and seamless, keeping the momentum of the lesson intact.
Pair Share is a small structural shift, but it touches almost every part of a lesson: the quality of thinking, the equity of participation, and the confidence students bring to sharing their ideas. Try it in your next lesson, and watch what happens to the quality — and quantity — of student voice in your classroom.
Look out for more Top Tips from the Teach Well Instruction & Coaching Companion in upcoming newsletters.
