Assigning Partners

This is a picture of where most of our whole group instruction takes place. This year we have assigned partners for the Oral Language time of StoryTown. I found designating partners to be a better way to hold students accountable during think-pair-share. I have two ways of assigning partners in my room. One way is more of the old fashion way where I list their names in different colors on an alphabet poster. One partner being assigned the uppercase letter and the other the lowercase letter. This way I can specify which group is speaking first and monitor student participation. The other way I assign partners is through the random generator application on Smart Notebook. This is a quick way to pick partners or call on students individually. I noticed that using this type of technology gets students excited and engaged in the upcoming activity! I also love using the random generator for sight words! Has anyone else discovered a fun way to use the random generator?