From time to time everyone needs a few moments to re-construct what they are doing, hearing and seeing. Reflection on action is considered by most theorists to be an essential component of learning. Group discussion is also helpful, as long as it is being used by learners to draw back from the action and to try to articulate (Manipulating-Getting-a-sense-of-Articulating; Do-TalkRecord) what they have been doing.
Learners subjected to a constant barrage of instructions, questions, tasks, and information are bound to get tired, to stop paying attention and to tune out.
For example, every time you find yourself saying something which you had to think about before you said it, ask yourself whether learners could possibly take it all in first time. One temptation is to say or do it again. Another possibility is to allow a pause, then invite learners to try to say it or do it in small groups.
For example, when learners have been busy engaged in some task, what happens when the bell rings or the work comes to a stop? Is there a moment of quiet during which learners can internalise, re-construct or think through what they have been doing?
Plenary sessions can be thought of as group pauses, but pauses are needed every so often during lessons. Even in a plenary, it may help to have a collective pause while people think about what they might say before bursting into speech. Another strategy that works well for stimulating reflection and promoting articulation is to get learners to talk-in-pairs. Having tried it out on another person, learners are more likely to be willing to speak in front of the whole group before addressing the whole group.
Some people have found traffic lights a useful device: learners can hold up a card with a red or yellow light on it to signal that they need a pause in order to check something out.
In a truly mathematical classroom with a conjecturing atmosphere, learners feel empowered to ask whoever is speaking or doing something to ‘activate the pause button’ in order that someone else can catch up, ask a question, or challenge an assertion.
This technique of pausing to reflect and taking time out is particularly useful in an adult learning context. Learners even in a small group will display just as great a range of preferred thinking styles, speed and competencies as in a school classroom and will value a chance to talk about or write about what they have just grasped, maybe for the first time!