The Think-Pair-Share strategy is designed to differentiate instruction by providing students time

and structure for thinking on a given topic, enabling them to formulate individual ideas and share
these ideas with a peer. This learning strategy promotes classroom participation by encouraging a
high degree of pupil response, rather than using a basic recitation method in which a teacher
poses a question and one student offers a response. Additionally, this strategy provides an
opportunity for all students to share their thinking with at least one other student which, in turn,
increases their sense of involvement in classroom learning. Think-Pair-Share can also be used as
in information assessment tool; as students discuss their ideas, the teacher can circulate and listen
to the conversations taking place and respond accordingly.

In this strategy, a problem is posed, students have time to think about it individually, and then
they work in pairs to solve the problem and share their ideas with the class. Think-Pair-Share is
easy to use within a planned lesson, but is also an easy strategy to use for spur-of-the-moment
discussions. This strategy can be used for a wide variety of daily classroom activities such as
concept reviews, discussion questions, partner reading, brainstorming, quiz reviews, topic
development, etc. Think-Pair-Share helps students develop conceptual understanding of a topic,
develop the ability to filter information and draw conclusions, and develop the ability to consider
other points of view.

Before introducing the Think-Pair-Share strategy to the students, decide on your target
for this lesson. You may choose to use a new text that the class will be reading, or you
might want to develop a set of questions or prompts that target key content concepts that
you have been studying.

Describe the strategy and its purpose with your students, and provide guidelines for
discussions that will take place. Explain to students that they will (1) think individually
about a topic or answer to a question;(2) pair with a partner and discuss the topic or
question; and (3) share ideas with the rest of the class.

Using a student or student(s) from your classroom, model the procedure to ensure that
students understand how to use the strategy. Allow time for students to ask questions that
clarify their use of the technique.

Once students have a firm understanding of the expectations surrounding the strategy,
monitor and support students as they work through the steps below. Teachers may also
ask students to write or diagram their responses while doing the Think-Pair-Share
activity.
 Think: Teachers begin by asking a specific higher-level question about the text or
topic students will be discussing. Students "think" about what they know or have
learned about the topic for a given amount of time (usually 1-3 minutes).

Pair: Each student should be paired with another student. Teachers may choose
whether to assign pairs or let students pick their own partner. Remember to be
sensitive to learners' needs (reading skills, attention skills, language skills) when
creating pairs. Students share their thinking with their partner, discuss ideas, and
ask questions of their partner about their thoughts on the topic (2-5 minutes).

Share: Once partners have had ample time to share their thoughts and have a
discussion, teachers expand the "share" into a whole-class discussion. Allow each
group to choose who will present their thoughts, ideas, and questions they had to
the rest of the class. After the class share, you may choose to have pairs
reconvene to talk about how their thinking perhaps changed as a result of the
share element.

Why use think-pair-share?

It helps students to think individually about a topic or answer to a question.

It teaches students to share ideas with classmates and builds oral communication skills.

It helps focus attention and engage students in comprehending the reading material.

How to use think-pair-share

Decide upon the text to be read and develop the set of questions or prompts that target
key content concepts.

Describe the purpose of the strategy and provide guidelines for discussions.

Model the procedure to ensure that students understand how to use the strategy.
 Monitor and support students as they work through the following:

T : (Think) Teachers begin by asking a specific question about the text. Students "think"
about what they know or have learned about the topic.

P : (Pair) Each student should be paired with another student or a small group.

S : (Share) Students share their thinking with their partner. Teachers expand the "share"
into a whole-class discussion.

Evaluation of Facebook

It has been seen that in the present generation, students are heavily engrossed in Web 2.0
technologies which includes; blogs, podcasts, twitter, wikis, social network sites, virtual worlds,
video sharing and photo sharing. They are heavily immersed in the web world that they have less
interacting with their off-line world. It can be pointed out that in this modernized world, internet
plays an important role in a students social and academic life. Thus, educators are now turning
to Web 2.0 tools and collaborating into their school work to arouse student participation and. The
use of Facebook widens our childrens social circle and this would not have been possible in the
past. This social network site was launched in 2004 by a Harvard student who wanted to create
an online community where fellow classmates could create profiles of them and interact with
each other. This tool is free to use and is convenient for people of all age group. As an educator, I
have used various features ofFacebook as my educational tool and this has helped me keep in
close contact with my colleagues and students.

Features of Facebook:

Creating a Facebook account is really simple and once login, it gives a variety of features to deal
with and is exciting to explore. Some of the major features that might include are as listed below;
1. Email notification.
2. Video conversation.
3. Messaging.
4. Online chatting.
5. Photo downloads and uploads.
6. News feed- upcoming events.
7. Find friends.
8. Games.
9. Quizzes and questions.
10. Joining new groups e.g. student and teacher (mentoring program).
11. Bio Data of a person.
12. Also find online jobs.
13. Link-page.
14. Ability to give notification on mobiles.

Facebook an Educational Tool

Many of the above mentioned features of Facebook can be easily in-cooperated with our school
work to help make teaching and learning much more fascinating. Some features that I prefer to
use in assisting me to make my teaching interesting and effective are as such;

1. Email Notifications

Through Facebook messaging users are able to send attached documents, videos, pictures as well
as txt messages. In the past, teachers had used newsletter to inform student of recent updates and
upcoming events in school but now Facebook has made this much cheaper and simple. Sending
messages via Facebook is simple and its video and picture messaging make it much more
advanced. Moreover many mobile networks do support Facebook and messaged notifications are
also sent to the linked mobile number as well the users email. Through Facebook messaging
student can also approach their teachers for consultation and clarification after school hours.
Sharing of links is also permitted on Facebook messaging. Thus, this enables teacher to send
tutorial and publication links to their students. Video links can be made from any video sharing

tool and YouTube is one common example. Thus

this feature can be used in numerous different ways to modify our teaching procedures and make
it technologically advanced and keep students up to date with up coming events in the school.
2. News feeds

This feature enables students to follow recently updated news which gets posted on their home

page once they sign in to their Facebook account.

The new information updated by their friends and colleagues immediately gets published on the
home page. Users can then read these feed and are also permitted to comment on the posts.
Moreover it enables sharing of view points and ideas. Through the home page any Facebook user
can do a status update as well as share or video or picture and this will automatically appear in
the news feed page which all the friends can view.

3. Facebook Chat Messaging

With it help of Facebook chat messaging, it had become possible to carryout instant messaging.
Thus unlike the past, you dont have to worry about your letters or email reaching your teachers
or lecturers on time and waiting for days and weeks to get a response. Through instant chat
messaging, student and teachers can communicate with each other there and then.

Ones the members of your Facebook friend list

comes online, they become visible on your chat list and straight away you can get going with
your messaging. For those members who have missed out on the discussion can always check
their chat history to catch up on the discussion. Moreover, instant chats on Facebook also provide
video chatting just like Skype, video chatting and conferencing can take place on your Facebook
page as well. The biggest advantage is that this
feature is absolutely free and simple. Additionally, Smiley Central application can also be used
on Facebook chat this feature adds more spice to the chat messages.

4. Questioning

This if one of the features of Facebook that makes quiz taking as well as group dissuasions fun
and easy. From their home page, student and teachers can forward questions targeted to a specific
group of friends as well as individuals. From this further discussion and sharing of ideas can be
stimulated. An old belief sates that the more you share knowledge, the more it will grow, thus
form this open penal discussion, teaches and student can share a lot of ideas and experiences.
Additionally this feature will help student brain storm ideas for their essays and other research

work.

5. Creating a Group

An interesting application in Facebook is the creating of a group. In my experience as a Peer

Mentor for the School Of Education (University of the South Pacific) I was able to make a Peer
Mentoring Group onFacebook. I was then able to
add my mentees as well as some of the teachers and university staff as members of my group.
Thus this made student and teacher interaction much more easy. For this group application, my
group members are able to upload questions and share videos as well pictures relevant to the
field of Education. Here members who are already graduated teachers are able to share their
experiences and assist and guide the current student-teachers. Furthermore, by the help of this
application I am able to provide my students will a daily update of my lesson content, objective
as well as inform them of my consultation hours. Facebook users are also able to create a page.
This act as an icon to promote your purpose. For example, as an educator, i had put up the idea of
creating a page for all the students who were studying to become teachers in the near future.

This page serves a similar purpose as my

mentoring group but it helps me in promoting my idea of using Facebook as an educational tool.
Additionally,Facebook allows the group members to carry out a group conferencing via chat
messaging and helps members to interact and socialized with each other. This is most beneficial
to students who lack confidence to approach their teachers personally. Thus it makes teaching
and learning much more convenient.

However, there are many other features that are not discussed in the above discussion. I believe
that these other features can also be incorporated into daily teaching activities if approached
creatively.

Advantages of using Facebook as an Educational Tool.

There are a number of good reasons for social networking tool such as Facebook to be used as an
educational tool. By using this social networking tool, one will be able to instantly reach the
community in a place that they are already actively participating.
Moreover, in the past printing up newsletters and mailing home flyers had been common in
many universities and it is both time consuming and expensive. Email newsletters can be another
time draining and tiring management problem. Most importantly, with Facebook a simple click
of a mouse, enables all messages can be sent to a large number of people for free.
With Facebook users are able to have a tool that can quickly and easily enable you to share
information, ideas, and support with other local groups. The great thing about Facebook is that
anyone (above the age of 13 years) is eligible to create an account, a group, as well as a page in
which they are able to control and moderate the information that is posted there.
This tool can be of great advantage to the classroom because of its interactive communication
availabilities. Recently it has been seen that the students are under control and became more
participant when the instructors acted as moderators on Facebook. Additionally,Facebook can
help bridge the communication gap between students and teachers and make the learning
environment much friendlier.

Disadvantages of Facebook as a means of learning

However,Facebook also has disadvantages such as: making eyesight weak, wastage of time and
money, cyber crime and giving rise to social conflicts. Moreover, it has been seen that Facebook
users easily get addicted. This could interfere in students education as students will devote more
time on Facebook then on doing their school work. Therefore, most educational institutes and
organizations have expelled the use of Facebook in their premises. There is always the fear of
computer-generated stalking in Facebook and chances are that your personal details might end up
in wrong hands.
Facebook also spoils the value of relationships. This is because the relationship does not
involved emotional and physical attachment. People are happy to have so many friends in their
friends list however, the question arises how may of them are your real friends. It should be kept
in mind that friends are more than just knowing a person over the internet.
Students face many forms of distraction in their life and Facebook has recently been added to the
list. When taking a tour around any internet cafe or University ITS there is a probability that
more then half of the student in that room are signed in on to their Facebook profile. Hence,
students take Facebook as more of a socializing tool then an educational asset.