Technolandy

Day 30 (of 2025/26) Is waiting a good thing?

https://studyfinds.org/waiting-isnt-bad-can-actually-boost-your-well-being/

Wait time is an under appreciated teaching strategy… both letting students work with a thought and not just going with a quick response… has a myriad of benefits – from rigor to delayed gratification to… letting the brain synthesize…

There’s a reason why I am a fan of guided gradual release of responsibility…. And wait time… and even delayed gratification …when it makes sense… 48 years for the Mariners to reach the World Series… gosh, I hope that number doesn’t get bigger… and why I’ve even added in boredom breaks into my presentations… not just my teaching time… Let’s look at these four for why they make sense in a teaching rhythm.

Gradual Guided Release of Responsibility

As a VP presenting on this said… this s*** works – then covered her mouth in embarrassment… but as she said, when we model… and talk… and synthesize… and repeat… moving through 1) I do (teacher modelling); 2) we do (the guided practice) ALL OF WHICH CAN BE REPEATED; 3) You do together (using collaborative practices); and 4) you do alone (independent practice. In lived practice, it helps build consistency, skill development and ironically, collaboratively builds autonomy as students understand and take responsibility for their learning. 

Wait Time

Many stages and opportunities from (i3) asking a question to a learner/class – count to 100 in your head to give time to think. Got a project about to start (or an assignment) plant some seeds along the way – my ‘homework’ used to consist of a lot of idea generating while at home… nothing has to be rushed (unless it’s the end of June).  It’s an intentional pause allowing deeper thinking and helps emphasize that it’s not about speed and being first (a mindset I had for much of my own early learning based on the conditioning I was learning under… even though many of the teachers said it wasn’t about speed (and many… many parent-teachers with the “wish he would slow down … and wait for the assignment to finish being explained before he starts”)

Delayed Gratification

I know people love the marshmallow test… but boy, do they ignore some pretty big pieces to the puzzle… most notably: trust. There is a level of trust that has to be demonstrated for kids to believe that if they wait, they will actually get a second marshmallow… otherwise, the saying “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” is very apt – better to trust what you have than what is promised to you. SO… how do we build this into learning environments… gotta build the conditions to get to appreciating resisting an immediate reward in order to gain a better or larger reward later… 

Boredom Breaks

I started this a while ago when I was explaining to a class that i was truly jealous when my kids at home or in class got to a point where they were bored – that I wish I had that opportunity to let my brain come up with something to do… or just synthesize… So we started with some random timers for a minute… then two… then up to 5 minutes of doing nothing… no music, no doodling… no books under the tabletops nor chatter with friends. Just spending time with your brain. We kept them random and we all started to like it when we got a boredom break, not because it meant we weren’t doing work, but we were giving our brains a chance to catch up… 

*****

Yeah – waiting is a good thing, but sometimes it’s nice to have some music to listen to or candies to crush. The world is getting faster and faster with instant feedback, same day delivery… savour the moments when your brain gets to percolate, not feel like it’s being pressured like an espresso machine… mmmm love coffee metaphors…