Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up

Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up is an engagement and class building activity that can be used to motivate, activate prior knowledge, close a lesson or group of lessons, review previously learned material, and to have fun. One advantage of this strategy over simpler "pair share" or "elbow partner" strategies is that it includes movement.

There are two versions: The quick share and the more in-depth task.

The quick share procedure

(NOTE: Since this requires a bigger time commitment - of at least a few minutes - than a quick pair share, teachers should reserve this for higher order questions that are worthy of some thinking as opposed to quick "check for understanding" questions):

  1. Teacher poses the question first, provides a moment of wait time, and then announces "stand up, hand up, pair up"!
  2. All students stand up and put their hands up.
  3. Students high five someone as a means of signifying they will partner.
  4. Teacher may re-state the question or prompt
  5. Pairs of students discuss the prompt.
  6. OPTIONAL: Teacher may ask for some students or each group to share their thoughts, may highlight a particular conversation they hear, etc. (mixing in other participation strategies).
  7. Students thank their partners and depart.

The more in-depth task procedure:

  1. All students stand up and put their hands up.
  2. Students mingle, mix, practiced meeting and greeting, and find a partner.
  3. Students sit and put their hands down.
  4. Teacher assigns and defines the task.
  5. Students are given “think time.”
  6. Pairs of students complete the task.
  7. Teacher uses other participation strategies to elicit group reports.
  8. Students thank their partners and depart.