I created this product out of desperation! In the past I had used the “Ask Three Before Me” strategy when students had a question. If you are not familiar this means that students need to ask three other students the answer to their question before they ask the teacher. It helps to eliminate questions like, “Do we have to put our name on our paper?” When a student asks the student next to them that question they will most likely tell them, “of course we do!” It stops that question from ever getting to the teacher.
In 5th grade this works in theory. I have noticed that with particularly chatty groups it just causes too much noise and ends up being a license to talk to your neighbor. So last year I didn’t use the “Ask three” strategy. Well, that didn’t work either because I was asked the most ridiculous questions on a daily basis.
So the “Try Three Before Me” was born! “Try three” is different than “Ask three” because the students don’t ask others until step three. Here is how it looks…
When the student has a question they first stop and think. They need to focus on whether the answer to their question was already given. Were there any directions given? If they still need help then they go to step 2…
For Step 2 they need to observe their surroundings. So many times the answers are written on the board or on their paper. They also need to look at their classmates. What are they doing? Sometimes a quick look around the room can clue a student in to what is going on . If they still need help then they go to Step 3…
Step 3 is where they quietly ask a friend… two friends at the most. This step won’t be needed as often because the students have been trained to think about finding the answer on their own. If after Steps #1-#3 they still need help then they go to the teacher!
Since my school has a Bee theme this year I also created this product with Bee clip art and a yellow and black color scheme. I am hoping that this method will help foster independent thinking and create less unnecessary noise in the classroom.
What other themes would you like to see for this product?
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