9: Graphs and Patterns - How I would Redo this Lesson

My grade 6 students are working on Patterns (with a focus on tables, graphs, and rules) and today I did a brief lesson on how to create a graph based on our patterns. I asked the question, "How do I create a graph?" and had the students share their thoughts on what we needed (axis, labels, title, scale, data). What I did not do (that I'm slightly embarrassed to admit to) is give them any sort of think time before I started having kids share their ideas. This of course occurred to me after the fact while I was reflecting on the lesson and wondering why only a few students were participating and I wanted to just kick myself for it! I wondered if I had given students a chance to think individually for a minute or two and then share with a partner before talking about it as a class, would I have had more kids participating and engaged. So, I've made a note for this lesson next year have students complete the Think Pair Share Routine before even engaging them in a full class discussion. I've also made a note in my planning book as a reminder to allow students more think time as it can be helpful to students of all levels!