Incorporating the Processing Pause

I recently listened to a great podcast episode called “The Power of the Pause” from the 3 Caffeinated Coaches podcast. One of the pauses they discussed was the “processing pause.” We commonly refer to this type of pause as “think time” when using it with students. They pointed out that we don’t often give the same thinking time to adults during meetings, training sessions, coaching conversations, etc. However, it is really important to make sure we incorporate processing pauses into our interactions with the adults we support.

Some takeaways I had from this discussion:

1. Some adults take longer to process new ideas than others, so we need to make sure we build in the time they need to analyze and think about the new information that has been shared. (I am one of those adults 🙋🏻)

2. When including processing pauses, be deliberate and set norms. Otherwise, the pauses could feel forced or stifle creativity. Also, we need to consider the context and reflect on whether the occasion actually calls for slowing ourselves down in order to fully digest information.

3. There are some beneficial techniques we can use, such as giving people the agenda for a meeting ahead of time. My new boss learned quickly that I need a little more processing time than my teammates. So, if she is planning to share something big in a meeting or ask for volunteers, she will often give me a heads up before the meeting so that I have time to think it over privately before we discuss it as a group. I appreciate that so much!

Click here to check out Episode #10: Power of the Pause. I would love to hear what you think!

Comments

Awesome Projects for January!

This week has been super busy! But it's that awesome kind of busy where I am working on multiple projects for January that I am SUPER excited about! Kinders on Chromebooks We are preparing for our 3rd Quarter EdTech session, and we are planning to include resources specifically designed for our K-2 teachers. We want to create videos in which we model strategies that K-2 teachers can use to help their students learn how to login to Chromebooks. My EdTech teammate reached out to the Kindergarten team at one of our schools, and they were kind enough to open their doors to us! We will be working with this team on the first day back from Winter Break in January. Our plan is for me to lead the first session while another EdTech team member records the lesson and assists students as needed. We will be sharing the video footage, along with other K-2 resources, with our teachers during our sessions throughout the 3rd Quarter. This week I am trying to build a Google Site th

Create an Instagram Story!

One day on Twitter, I came across a tweet from Ryan O'Donnell ( @creativeedtech ) in which he shared a Facebook template that could be used for students to demonstrate their learning. I clicked on the link to his website , and I was AMAZED at all the cool templates he had created for teachers to use for free! I decided to try using an Instagram template during a unit on the planets in our solar system. I wanted students to demonstrate what they learned about the different planets, but I wanted them to do it in a creative way. Here are the directions I gave to my students: Here are some student examples: Student Example #1 Student Example #2 Student Example #3 Student Example #4 I really enjoyed this activity, and I love how students familiar with hashtags were able to create and use them in clever ways! If I was to go back and do this again, I would spend some time working with students less familiar with social media and hashtags and give them some more

Setting New EdTech Goals

Last week I accomplished an edtech goal that I have had for the past year - I was selected as a Google for Education Certified Educator! Yay! This was a really big goal of mine, and I'm really proud of myself for following through on it. The most challenging part for me was creating the video because it involved talking about myself. It felt SUPER awkward. This seems like a great time to set some new edtech goals! Present at an EdTech Conference I really want to start presenting and sharing ideas at edtech conferences. I love going to edtech conferences because I always learn something new, and I think that I have some ideas to share that might help other teachers try new things in their own schools and classrooms. There is an EdTechTeam Summit coming to Phoenix in March. I think that would be a great opportunity to try submitting a session proposal! Become an ISTE Certified Educator In September, I began the process of becoming an ISTE Certified Educator .

Roxi Thompson

Search This Blog