Teachers Playbook - The I Do "WE DO" You Do Protocol - Part 2

Join Teacher Coaches Josh Vine and Amanda Peet as they unpack strategies that teachers can use for the "We Do" phase of a lesson. This is episode 2 of a 3 part series of episodes for the "I Do, We Do, You Do" protocol developed by Hollingsworth &Ybarra. This effective teaching method brings clarity to how we can explicitly teach content and skills to our students.   

Transcript

Josh - This is episode 15 of that teacher podcast it's great to have your company again and today we are unpacking another section of the “I do we do you do” protocol and today's episode focuses on the “we do” phase of the I do we do you do protocol and today we've got another opportunity to speak with Amanda Peet who is great friend and colleague at the school that we both teach at she's also a teacher coach and we work together coaching teachers around our school and today we're going to talk about the “we do” so Amanda the we do a is such an important element we were saying earlier before the show that this is probably the most crucial element of the I do we do you do method of teaching and I think that's because this is the part where we as teachers really get an understanding of what the students have learned from our I do and whether or not there ready to do a you do as well and so it is important that as teachers we engage in this process very very closely to make sure that we don't let students go on to an activity on their own ill equipped and unable to succeed but also that we make sure that there is ample opportunity for them to see and practice how to actually use the methods that we've talked about in the I do so getting opportunities to do that. 

Amanda - Yeah Josh you are absolutely right the we do is the crucial part of the lesson where the students get to practice slowly under your scaffolded instruction and I just love this part of the lesson and as I was chatting to you before the show it's something that I didn't used to do and it's a new skill that I've learned and it has revolutionized the way I teach because I'm getting so much checking for understanding when I have a we do in the lesson.

Josh - Absolutely Amanda it's so true what you're saying there and I think for those who are listening another thing to remember that's so important when we talk about “I do we do you do” as a model for teaching we are talking about it as a model for teaching new content or new skills and so it's not how we always teach not every lesson is there going to be an I Do We do you do approach but it's when you are at a point where you're having to teach something that is brand new to the students start with an I do where the teacher is showing their understanding showing their method showing their thinking and modeling and then we moved to a we do so that the students have the opportunity to start doing that with you so that you can then get an idea of where they're at with their understanding 

Amanda - yeah yeah absolutely right Josh and it's important to remember that an I do we do you do doesn't necessarily have to stick to that order it can be fluid so we can have and I do followed by a we do and then when the teacher realizes that the students aren't quite getting it when they're checking for understanding you don't have to automatically go to the you do you can just jump back to the I do and quickly re teach the concept that's the beauty of it is very fluid so you could have a lesson where it looks like it's an I do followed by a we do back to and I do back to a we do and then to the you do it's also helpful to think about the time frame of a we do Josh and generally speaking the we do should probably take the bulk of a lesson now thats taking into account the fact that if the content is easy it would be a bit shorter or if the content is hard or maybe longer but generally speaking the I do is a short sharp punchy introduction by the teacher where their model is the skill and then the we who is the consolidation part with the students are practicing making errors making mistakes getting it right and going back and then really wrestling with the new content and this can take a while and that's a really good thing.

Josh – Amanda that that is key and this show is all about is making great teachers and great teachers don't just follow a script they're not robots that go I'm going to do my I do then I'm going to do my we do and then no matter what we're doing and you do. A good teacher is going to do the I do and then the we do is so crucial as we said earlier it's so crucial because a good teacher is going to make a decision as to where the students are at and a good teacher may go back to the I do again in order to ensure that the students actually understand the content. A poor teacher is going to ignore all the signs in the we do that the students don't have it and yet they're just going to say well let's just go on with the activity now which is such a silly idea because you're sending students out there to fail and we never want to do that as teachers it's not what we signed up for we want students to feel confident in there learning. Amanda when it comes to we do I guess for our listeners strategies what does it look like how do we do an awesome we do in the classroom 

Amanda - yeah sure well Josh I'd say the number one key in an effective we do is to have every student engaged in the process in one way or another so we're looking for students to be actively participating and demonstrating if they can or can't do whatever the skill that's just being taught in the I do.  So ways to do that could be individual whiteboards were the teacher poses a question that they've just kind of taught in the I do and the students have a go under the scaffold in succession of the teacher so those individual whiteboards or show me apps on the iPad things like that fantastic way for the students to participate in the we do and just start to have a go at doing this another way that char is really effective is for the teacher to ask questions of all class and elicit responses from the students to hear if the students understand or not. I personally love think pair share as a really great strategy so teachers just taught something in the I do and then says to the students OK turn to my partner and tell them the three things that you've just learned that I've just taught and the students then pair share that together and then the teacher can get feedback to see if those students have grasped the content or if there is gaps that need reteaching

Josh- yes such simple advice it really is just getting feedback from the students that they have listened in the I do and understood. As a PE teacher one of the things that I would get my students to do is in the I do I demonstrate a skill using a physical demonstration it might be a volleyball spike and I break it down for them to show the different elements to do it successfully and then I go to a we do which is where I get the students up on their feet now I have to get them to show me step 1 Step 2 step 3 what is your body positioning looking like and then I'm scanning across the room and I'm able to see which students have it which students don't and the general rule around here is if 80% of the students have it you can move on but if there's 20% or more that don't have the skill down or the knowledge that you just taught down Pat the content then we need to go back and re teach and so even just physical demonstration is a great way of doing that you know having brainstorms group discussions is a great way of also doing we do as well and so I think we do is one of those things where just gotta get creative as a teacher I think about that content it's very content specific how you're going to elicit feedback from your students to know whether or not you can move on whereby they're now they're all good go into an activity by themselves 

Amanda - yeah I just love the we do because it's the opportunity for the teacher you gradually reduce the scaffold that they've been using to help the students achieve success so at the start of the we do Josh the teacher is giving all the prompts and cues to support students as their practicing a new skill for the very first time but as they develop confidence and mastery with practicing this under your instruction in the we do it gradually reduces and  the teacher can reduce that scaffold and step back more and more and gives students more autonomy in their decisions that they’re making and by the end of the we do the teachers step back and the students are responsible for their learning 

Josh - yeah that's so true Amanda I and I think even after doing his podcast we've been wrestling with this a little bit and mixing it with success criteria and we actually came to the point where we realized that the success criteria should actually be what the students are able to demonstrate or achieve by the end of the we do so even as we do this podcast we are lifelong learners we never stop thinking we never stop learning we never stop growing and even doing this podcast together just we start to wrestle with these things and we start to realize if things and it's really helping out our pedagogy and the teachers here at our school 

Josh - well it has been a pleasure to sit down with you Amanda and talk about all things we do hopefully those who are listening at home this has been helpful as you consider how you teach and how you can elicit greater learning outcomes for your students because that is what that teacher podcast is all about so it would be awesome if you decided to share any episodes with your teacher colleagues and also join us on Facebook we have a that teacher podcast Facebook page and that teacher podcast Facebook group and you can also share the episodes for Apple podcasts and subscribe through Apple podcasts so that you never miss anything thanks for joining us again today until time it’s bye for now.