Using the ‘Rule of Three’ for teaching and learning, we have developed three sets of three key terms to help teachers and administrators remember some important aspects of classroom and school management. As a result, we have an easy-to-remember acronym: ‘OAR’. This acronym also symbolizes that if we follow some basic rules and concepts, we will never be left up the creek without a paddle – or OAR.
Before getting into ‘OAR’, we should first address the ‘Rule of Three’. This is a concept that is used in math, science, computer programming, and other courses at renowned universities around the world. In fact, it is nothing new. The concept itself goes all the way back to one of history’s greatest teachers; Aristotle, who classified educational and scientific pursuits as theoretical, productive, and practical.
Essentially, it means that students should be given three opportunities to learn. Let’s look at the three classifications as steps in the educational process.
Rule of Three – Step One
This is when the first exposure occurs. The key is that students must be engaged in some way, not lectured. If a student’s first exposure is passive, then they are not ‘engaged’. This is not to say that a short lecture, video clip, audio file, etc. cannot be used at this stage, but in order for engagement to occur, students must be asked to DO something. Therefore, in addition to the short introduction, students could engage in a vocabulary development exercise, participate in looking something up, draw timelines, work out mathematical problem sets, etc. Anything that requires students to DO something, is acceptable. We aren’t asking students to be proficient. We simply want them to acquire knowledge and comprehension while performing some action.
Rule of Three – Step Two
Now that students have some basic knowledge and comprehension, they can further develop. In this step, collaborative learning strategies should be used. For example, students can work together to classify word families, look for similarities in words they already know and what they are currently learning, discuss whether or not presented information is true or false (and why), collectively graph or diagram mathematical problems, etc. During this step, importance should be placed on students working together to find answers and visualize results.
Rule of Three – Step Three
The third step is the ‘fun’ step, where students get to use what they have learned in some sort of ‘hands-on’ project. In order to be successful, the activity should require problem-solving (analysis), critical thinking (evaluation), and creative thinking (synthesis). For example, students could write a play for English, run a store for math, build a model for science, prepare presentations, create a quiz show, have a panel discussion or debate, or create a portfolio of mathematical patterns in the form of artwork or images from nature or architecture (shapes, measurements, etc. that they see around them).
By following the Rule of Three, we can intentionally increase the complexity and difficulty of our lessons. This, in turn, helps students remember more because they are experiencing learning rather than just observing. Remember, if the bum goes numb, the brain grows dumb.
In addition to the Rule of Three, we must not neglect opportunities for formative assessment along the way. Students cannot be left to their own devices. Teaching must take place, corrections must be made, and positive reinforcement must occur during each step.
Now that we have a better understanding of the Rule of Three, we can look into the three sets of three terms I consider the core of a school management philosophy: ‘OAR’.
‘O’
Outcomes
What do we want to know? One of the biggest problems in education has traditionally been that people have never really known what they wanted the end result to be. For too long, the most important thing has been simply to ‘get a degree’. Fortunately, that has all been changing in recent years.
What is an ‘outcome’? Simply put, it is the destination. It’s where you want to end up. In education, an example of an outcome would be:
‘By the end of this grade level, students will be able to add and subtract real numbers.’
OR
‘By the end of this grade level, students will be able to write complete and accurate sentences in the present tense.’
Notice how the outcome doesn’t tell us how students are going to be able to get to their destination. That’s not an outcome’s job. It’s only their job to tell us where we need to reach.
Objectives
What is an ‘objective’? Think about a road map with the outcome as the destination. Objectives would be the directions that help us get to the destination. For example, I am in one city and I want to get to another city—my destination.
The objectives would be:
- Start out by turning right at the first corner.
- Then, go 100 meters and turn left.
- Etc., until the destination is reached.
If the directions are followed, the destination is reached. If the directions are not followed, we could get lost along the way. We may eventually get to our destination, but it will be a much longer and more tedious process.
Let’s use an example from the previous section on outcomes to explain further. We have an outcome of ‘By the end of this grade level, students will be able to write complete and accurate sentences in the present tense.’ The first thing we need to ask ourselves is, what do we need to know how to do in order to reach this outcome?
At a minimum, we need to know:
- what an article is
- what a subject (noun) is
- what a verb is
- what a present tense verb is
- what a predicate (object or complement) is
- what order these components need to be in
Therefore, we need to be able to complete at least six objectives in order to reach this one outcome.
In addition, objectives need to be actionable and measurable. Otherwise, how can we determine if students are following the correct directions to reach their destination?
For our example, the objectives would be something like:
- Students should be able to use the articles ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘the’ properly in a sentence.
- Students should be able to identify the subject of a sentence.
- Students should be able to use a noun as a subject in a sentence.
- Students should be able to properly use at least 20 common regular verbs.
You may ask how these objectives are measurable. In some cases, we can require different levels of measurement based on scales and percentages, but in other cases, such as these examples, we can use a binary measurement, i.e., students either ‘can’ or ‘can’t’ complete the objective.
Order
There is order to everything, even chaos. In education, we can only make limited assumptions. Therefore, it is our responsibility to incorporate a system whereby students can build on previously acquired knowledge. The safest thing to do is to always start at a foundational level and scaffold toward a level of synthesis (creative thinking). For example, in math, a student needs to know how to add and subtract single digits before moving on to larger numbers; in English, students need to learn sentence structure before they can write essays.
‘A’
Attitude
A positive attitude is necessary to reach our goals – students, teachers, staff and parents.
The reality is that everyone has bad days. Sometimes we have bad days several times a month. These bad days could be the result of many factors. Most of the time, bad days are a result of something that is happening in our personal lives. I’d like to say that we should leave our personal lives at home and only bring our professional lives to work, but we are all humans—well, most of us, anyway. No matter how much we’d like to leave our personal lives at home, it’s simply impossible. What we CAN do professionally, however, is do our best to comfort one another and guide each other through our difficulties.
When I was a child, I lived with my grandmother for some time. As we all know, children also have bad days, for one reason or another. Sometimes it’s as simple as their favorite socks were in the wash that day and they couldn’t wear them. When I had a bad day when I was staying with my grandmother, she would tell me to ‘fake it until you break it’. What she meant by this is that I had to smile, even though I didn’t want to, and eventually the smile would break my bad mood. She was right. I started out not wanting to smile, but I smiled anyway, and eventually my mood changed. I encourage teachers, students and staff to do the same. ‘Fake it until you break it!’
If, however, the ‘bad day’ is a result of something that has happened in our professional capacity, the situation should be immediately brought to the attention of a supervisor so solutions can be found. A school should establish a Culture of Caring, which also pertains to caring for the welfare of teachers and staff.
Ability
A certain level of ability is required. It’s a well-known fact that some people are born with a natural disposition for teaching and learning, while others struggle a bit more. However, everyone has at least SOME level of ability. It is our job to figure out our own as well as our students’ strengths and weaknesses and build on both. I encourage everyone to set goals for improving their abilities and seek assistance when necessary.
Adjustment
If abilities or attitudes are not where they need to be, we make adjustments until they are. This happens through commonly accepted practices until those proven practices are deemed inappropriate. Then, we look for other ways to make adjustments. In other words, we never give up. We are educators. If our students fail, we fail.
‘R’
Rights
This is one area where mistakes are not permissible. Rights are rights. They are not privileges, nor are they something that should be requested or demanded. Rights must be given without question. That’s why they are called rights. In the context of our profession, there are certain inalienable rights, as follows:
Students have a right to learn. Teachers have a right to teach. Parents have a right to know.
If at any time, any of these three groups feels their rights are being infringed, they should immediately discuss this with the Principal or School Director.
Responsibilities
Everyone has varying levels of responsibility. We all have a job to do.
Students have a responsibility to learn. If they do not fulfill this responsibility, they are giving up their rights.
Teachers have a responsibility to teach. Those who do not fulfill this responsibility need to ask themselves what they are doing and why they are here. If this responsibility is too much to bear, it may be time to find a more suitable career.
Parents have a responsibility to know what their children are doing and to support the teachers.
Respect
In the U.S., there is a saying, “Give respect to get respect.” I disagree. In a school environment, everyone must show respect at all times, regardless of the situation they face. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect—no exceptions, ever. It is as simple as talking with each other in a calm voice and being polite. Manners are a demonstration of respect and are mandatory at all times. Without the demonstration of mutual respect, an entire organization can quickly fall into a chaotic realm of backbiting and low morale.
We don’t always like everyone. We don’t always like everything about someone. However, that is never an excuse to not show everyone respect at all times. Disrespect should never be allowed, and if it ever occurs, immediate intervention is the only solution. If someone is disrespectful to you, the best thing you can do is remain calm and be respectful. Let management sort out the disrespect. Never exacerbate a situation by losing your composure or lowering your standards.