heart of heartlands lessons

There’s the perennial issue in science, when presented with a new equation even the highest ability children can struggle to understand it. Just slight changes in the use of the equation can lead students to confusion. What do the letters mean? Which numbers fit where? How can this become a single number?

Ultimately, all this understanding needs to be passed to the students quickly and efficiently. Modelling can be that tool but then, what does that look like? One technique I’ve looked into and found useful is “I do, we do, you do”.

I do:

“I do” is the basic modelling stage, direct instruction demonstrating the method to be used. In this section the teacher should look to use a clear step by step guide for the whole class while including their own metacognition around the task, make clear your thoughts. The aim here is to show every step as clearly as possible with a justification. It’s incredibly important this is accompanied from a clam and quiet classroom environment.

We do:

The important step here is to make sure all students are able to take on the task, this is a mini-plenary – a quick AFL task to check the whole class is up to scratch. My recommendation is mini-whiteboards, giving the whole class the chance to show themselves they can have a go. Whatever it is – it’s speedy – it should be easy to assess the class and needs to show every individual demonstrating their steps. Skipped steps are as bad as mistakes in this stage as a small misconception can become a mistake later on.

You do:

Without consolidation, has anything been achieved? This is a chance for the students to show their skills and really engage with the questions. “You do” should allow the students to repeat the steps demonstrated, once a certain level of competency is achieved, then more complicated tasks can be used to stretch the individuals who need it.

In this post, I’ve focussed on how this technique supports with equations but in my own experience, it’s a great way to demonstrate experiments and get longer pieces of writing from those who typically struggle. “I do, We do, You do” is a great way to get across metacognition and to give clear direct instructions to support learning.

References:

​McCoy, A. 2011, March 4. Teaching New Concepts: “I Do It, We Do It, You Do It” Method http://antoinemccoy.com/teaching-new-concepts

MADDIE LEE, DARCIE BOTTEM, MONICA SANVIK https://strategiesforspecialinterventions.weebly.com/i-do-we-do-you-do.html

Olly Traynor 2018, Feb 2 METACOGNITION - IT'S NOT A FAD https://sites.google.com/heartlands.haringey.sch.uk/heartofheartlands/blog/metacognition-its-not-a-fad