Counting To Ten

I know we hear that once you ask a question of a class, you should "count to 10" to wait for the students to think about it quietly before you proceed to ask for an answer. And I guess when we're tutoring students, and trying to walk them through a process, you "count to 10" after you prompt them for a piece, so again they can process the information.

I literally "count to 10" in my head, and sometimes twice. Now not 1,2,3, ...., 19, 20, but 1, 2, 3, ..., 10 then 1, 2, 3 ...., 10. I'm wondering if other people do the literal counting in their heads while they wait.

Then again, I count the stairs in my house when I'm going down or up them (5, 8, and 6). I count the "bumps" in one piece of the highway on my way to work (10).

I think the counting is good. I sometimes count to 10 after I am "giving them notes", after short bursts of speech, so that they have time to process what I just said before I burst some more (I'm sure they're on pins and needles waiting for the pearls to fall from my mouth instead of thinking about boys or girls or prom or music).

I'm thinking of this one reporter on NPR. He always sounds different from the others. He's the one in Florida, and he talks really fast (compared to the other reporters) and it just sounds different and noticeable and you just want him to slow down. I don't want to be that "reporter" teacher, but I know I talk fast, so hopefully I'll keep counting to remind myself to slow down.