I Do… We Do… You Do…
With the technique, I Do… We Do... You Do…, you work through each of the steps of a task to completion, with students watching and listening carefully. Then, you do the same with a similar task, but you don’t complete the last step – students do that, with you monitoring their performance. If necessary, you do some reteaching and repeat this step until you are satisfied enough students can complete the task correctly. Then, you share another similar task but you don’t complete the last two steps – students do that, with you monitoring their performance. Again, if necessary, they do some reteaching and repeat this step until they are satisfied enough students can complete the task correctly. Finally, you give students a similar task to complete wholly by themselves, monitoring how they do.
Why use this technique?
A common pitfall in teaching is we move to independent tasks too quickly, with large numbers of students struggling to complete tasks successfully. As well as being difficult for teachers to manage the large number of struggling students, the experience of failure so early in the learning sequence can demotivate students unnecessarily. By scaffolding the teacher support and removing this gradually, I Do… We Do... You Do… makes it more likely more students will be successful in the independent practice phase, addressing both these issues.
Notes and tips
The ‘I do’ in the technique is you working a task through to completion, with all students paying close attention. The ‘we do’ is everyone in class practising the same aspects of the task at the same time, for example, on show-me boards. The ‘you do’ is students completing the task themselves.
Focused reflection
How well do you currently use this technique?
Is it a technique you will focus on developing?
If so, what are the key features you will focus on (things to do, and not do)?