The Best Ways To Use “3-2-1” As An Instructional Strategy

Creating lessons and assignments using a “three-two-one” strategy is fairly common among classrooms. One advantage is that using that framework makes it easier for both students and teacher to remember what everybody is supposed to do!

Here are some variations that I’ve previously shared, used and/or written about — feel free to contribute your own in the comments section:

In a post titled How We Made An Excellent Speaking Activity Even Better, I described a pretty effective speaking lesson we do with English Language Learners.

Three-Two-One Is A Simple & Effective Summarizing Strategy is a post inspired by the work of educator Ekuwah Moses.

Reading Informational Texts Using the 3-2-1 Strategy is from Read Write Think.

A simple way to get your learners to think about their thinking via @CognitionEdu pic.twitter.com/1uV0YS6TJ3

— Visible Learning (@VisibleLearning) September 19, 2015

Examples Of Student Work From My ELL History Classes

Creative strategies for encouraging English learners to talk about and apply their learning is from Education Northwest.

Here Are Downloadable Scaffolded Instructions For Students To Create A “3/2/1” Poster

3-2-1 Bridge Student Activity – Pre and Post Learning Reflections https://t.co/9HoXv6IJGG via @WickedEdTech pic.twitter.com/6s75fnAhg5

— 𝙎𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙎𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙯 💡 (@ShellTerrell) May 19, 2023

Please contribute more!