3-2-1: A Teaching Strategy

                                       


During your career as an educator you will develop loads of activities, ideas and tips that you use throughout your practice. Here is a great activity: The 3-2-1 strategy.

What is the 3-2-1 strategy?

One of the hallmarks of a great lesson or presentation is being able to finish it with an activity that brings all of the lesson elements together. You want your audience to remember the highlights of the lesson, and leave with information that can be used in the future. The 3-2-1 strategy is great to use because it summarizes key information in a clear and concise way. I've used it with students in class, and I've used it as an evaluation tool with adults as well. Your creativity will determine how you want to present this chart - as a listed version, as a chart or as a table. Younger students can use pictures instead of words. 

How Does It Work?


Simply fill out a 3-2-1 form with information that will summarize the learning. As the name implies, the form appears in descending order, with 3 items, then 2, then 1.

Here's an example of things you could include in a generic form:

• 3 Things You Found Out
• 2 Interesting Things
• 1 Question You Still Have

When Can I Use This Strategy?

Use this strategy whenever you want to gauge learning or evaluate a process: as an exit ticket, a evaluation tool or as the introduction to a class discussion.

The labels for the 3-2-1 form  are the things you ask, and they can change according to the audience:

• In  professional development sessions:

3 things I learned from this workshop; 2 questions that I have; one "lightbulb" moment,

• In art class:

3 words that describe this picture; 2 art styles that are shown; one title I could use for this picture,

• In literacy class:

3 major characters from the story; 2 conflicts that were developed in the plot; 1 theme,

• In math class:

3 important facts in a math word problem; 2 steps that need to be used to solve the problem; 1 extraneous fact that can eliminated from the problem

• In science class:

3 states of matter; 2 types of chemical bonds; and 1 basic  building block of matter

Have fun with this new tool!

    

Queen Bee

End of the Year Student Reflections

How reflective are your students?

Here are some ideas that you can use during the closing days of the school year. I found that it's  great to have students reflect on what they've done, and plan for how they can improve their learning:

• Have students grade their progress and learning for the year and prove why they should receive a specific grade.

• Give students the responsibility of trimming down their learning portfolios and creating a folder of their best work.

•  Have students write a letter at the start of the year, predicting what they think they will learn. Then at year’s end, have students revisit their predictions and reflect on what happened.

• Have students write letters to next year’s class, advising them about what to expect.

• Let students create a time capsule that includes memorable moments  from the school year.

These are a few ideas to get students thinking about their work. In my humble opinion, introspection is a great student activity, and if you can have students create a written record of that reflection - what a bonus!

 Your friend,