Circle, Triangle, Square
Grades K-12
Big Idea
A way for students to reflect on a lesson or concept from three different perspectives.
Directions:
1. Provide students with an index card or a sticky note.
2. Have students draw a circle, a triangle, and a square with space inside each shape to write some ideas.
3. Tell students they will be writing key words, short sentences, or examples in the shapes.
4. In the circle, ask students to write something that is going around in their minds. It could be something they are don't understand or something they are still thinking about.
5. In the triangle, ask students to write three things they learned.
6. In the square, ask students to write something that "squares" with them, that is something they agree with, understand, or believe.
When to use:
- As an Exit Ticket
- As part of a journal or content notebook, such as a Science Notebook
- As part of a reading log
- In a Snowball Fight: students ball up the paper, throw the paper snowballs around the room, then pick up a different snowball to read another student's ideas
Strategy Variations and Content Ideas
- Math: use to reflect on problem-solving strategies.
- Social Studies: use to reflect on textbook content.
- Science: use to reflect on experiments and the scientific process.
- Language arts: use to reflect on poems, poetic devices, big ideas in literature, such as theme, or changes in characters over time.
- Make connections to the Depth and Complexity icons: the circle relates to Unanswered Questions, the triangle relates to Details, and the square can relate to whichever icon a student student chooses as they consider what they agree with, what they understand, or what they believe (for example, it could relate to Ethics, Patterns, Rules, or Language of the Discipline).