What Is a 3 - 2 - 1?
-The idea is to give students a chance to summarize some key ideas, rethink them in order to focus on those that they are most intrigued by, and then pose a question that can reveal where their understanding is still uncertain.
-Often, teachers use this strategy in place of the usual worksheet questions on a chapter reading, and when students come to class the next day, you're able to use their responses to construct an organized outline, to plot on a Venn diagram, to identify sequence, or isolate cause-and-effect. The
students are into it because the discussion is based on the ideas that they found, that they addressed, that they brought to class.
How Does It Work?
-Students fill out a 3-2-1 chart with something like this:
3 Things You Found Out
2 Interesting Things
1 Question You Still Have
-Now, that's just the suggested version. Depending upon what you're teaching, you can modify the 3-2-1 anyway you want.
-For instance, if you've just been studying the transition from feudalism to the rise of nation-states,
you might have students write down 3 differences between feudalism and nation-states, 2 similarities, and 1 question they still have.
Got A Version I Can Print Out?
But of course! You can download and print a version of a blank 3-2-1 chart and the generic version as described above. They are both on the same sheet; you can copy and cut them into half-sheets.