Wait Time

Teacher jargon is the overuse of common words. Time that you wait for an answer is called "wait time." Changing your original class plans to meet one student's needs is called "differentiation." Telling people background information before introducing a new subject is called "scaffolding." Let me be clear: any of these words or phrases is probably the subject of several books (which I hope to never read).

"Wait time" is one of my biggest weaknesses in the classroom. I am constantly asking my students a question, then plowing on into the answer before they have had time to think. As a student, one of my greatest complaints was not being given time to think about the question. So I'm surprised that it's one of my greatest struggles in the area of presentation of a lesson (planning a lesson has a whole other set of struggles for me).

"Wait time" is one of my biggest weaknesses in life, too. I must wait to see what will happen in a few key facets of my life. I take into consideration my hopes of having a career as a teacher, while never disconnecting from the state of the world, which is in uproar regarding education. Has it always been this political? So I must give in to the silence I feel surrounding me. I must let it grow warm, touch my skin as it closes in. Silence. Yet I am moving at a hundred miles per hour. Silently.