(P) indicates that an activity requires pre-planning

Before class begins

Purpose: / Activity / Description
Focus students on upcoming lesson / Anticipation/reaction guide (P) / Anticipation/reaction guide – often structured as a series of statements with which students can choose to agree or disagree. They can focus on the prior knowledge that the reader brings to the text, or the “big ideas” that will be posed in the readings for the next class or will be addressed during the next class. The students then compare their answers with the new material they learn.

Beginning of class: Openers

Purpose: / Activity / Description
Clear the mind of distractions / Bracketing / This is a way to have students “leave it at the door” whatever is on their minds with they enter the room. You can give them “1 minute to expound to a neighbor,” time to talk about something wonderful that happened this week, tell the class (or a group or neighbor, depending on the size of the class) whatever is on their mind. You can also give a minute or two to write what’s bothering them and then ceremonially throw it in the trash. Now you can introduce you lesson to minds that are ready to receive.
Access prior knowledge; anticipate lesson / K-W-L
K-W-H-L / K stands for what students Know; W is what they Want to Know, and L is what they Learned. Begin a new concept by asking students what they know about it. List ideas under K on a KWL chart. Then ask what they want to know and list it under W. At the end of the lesson or unit, ask what they have learned and put it under L. The K section guides instruction in the lesson and increases students’ awareness of the unit. Adding and “H” to the chart allows you to ask students “How” they will find the information.
Brainstorming / Quickly generate a large number and variety of ideas on a topic or problem. Can be used as an individual activity, in pairs, or as a group activity. It can be done in writing or orally. In a brainstorming activity, all ideas are accepted because you are looking for variety and creativity.
Focused listing / This is similar to brainstorming but is more focused. You ask students to name as many things as possible about a topic, but you are not necessarily looking for creativity. For example, “list as many characteristics as you can of a closed system.”

Middle of the class: Engagement and processing activities done during the lesson (These can work in lectures as well as non-traditional types of instruction).

Purpose: / Activity / Description
Keeping students engaged in the lesson; these work with any content / Turn and Talk
Sharing pairs / Similar activities that require no preparation, only thoughtfulness about what to ask and when to include them in a lecture or other lesson. Turn and talk simply gives students a chance to process information and to speak aloud what they are thinking. Sharing pairs is much the same, although it could be a bit more structured. In both cases, students talk about their ideas and hear the ideas of others, which are both important in concept development.
Maximize the number of students who think about a question / Think, pair, share
Think, write, pair, share / Think, pair, share and think, write, pair share are a bit more formal and structured than turn and talk and sharing pairs. In these students think or think and write about the answer to a question before they actually talk about it. In this way, students are required to think about the answer to a question, not just those who are called on.
Question, all write / Rather than asking for volunteers to answer questions or calling on students that you are not sure are prepared, have all students write the answer on paper first. Then call on a few students to read their answers. \
Increase the number of students who speak up in class. / Whip around (pass option) / Ask a group of students each to take a turn responding to a question or, if they prefer, so say, “I pass.”
Practice; working with content / Under-explain and learning pairs / Explain only enough to get some students fully understanding. Then ask pairs to work together to help each other understand or to further explore the topic.
Jigsaw (P) / See separate handout.
Make-a-date (P) / See separate handout.
Stump your Partner / Have each student write a question (and the answer) that they feel is difficult from the information being presented. Turn to a neighbor and try to stump them. Can take these up and use them as review or test questions.
Note check / Turn to a partner and compare notes at the mid-point of the lecture, focusing on most important parts, anything they are confused about.
Avoiding class interruptions and getting off task / Index card questions / When time is at a premium but students have questions, have them write their questions on a note card as class proceeds. Leave time to go over questions at the end of class. Sometimes provides the best discussion.
Rote memory; Through repetition, emphasize a particular learning. / Pass the Q&A / Announce a question and the answer. Then ask students to pass it along with one asking the question, the next answering it. After answering, the student asks the same question to the next person, and so on. Provides repetition.
Gathering information, solving problems / Interview Design Technique (P) / See attached instructions. Provides opportunity to get input from everyone in a group – whether large or small. Works well in problem-solving activities.
Processing written information / The Final Word / 1. Students read a chapter or passage individually and highlight 2 or 3 items. 2. In a group or 2 to 5, one person shares of his highlighted items without comment. 3. Group members comment on the item in round-robin fashion. No cross talk is allowed. Only the person commenting may talk. 4. The initial person who named the item shares his or her thinking about the item and gets – the final word. 5. Repeat the pattern around the table, each person submitting one of his/her highlighted items, hearing comments, getting the final word.
Doing this in class lets students know that they will be responsible for more than listening during class. Provides progress check. / Write a Summary / Ask students to write a quick summary of the material. Purpose: To exercise comprehensive thinking skills. (Can also write an evaluation or synthesize information).
Enhance thinking at high levels. Increasing understanding at the conceptual level. / Graphic Organizers, Thinking Maps, Concept Maps (P) / See handout. Graphic organizers such as t-charts, Venn diagrams, bubble maps, and flow charts provide visual representations of thinking that leads to understanding and problem-solving. Teachers can provide specific organizers for the students, can ask students to create a particular type or organizer, or can have students decide what kind of organizer fits the learning situation.
Make a Prediction / Ask students to think ahead and make predictions.
Questioning (P) / See handout. Using Bloom’s taxonomy of cognitive skills. In planning your lesson, consciously plan the questions you will ask, working at the higher levels as much as possible. This encourages students to think about the concepts you are studying. Use these questions in conjunction with techniques such as Think-Pair-Share, and Question, All Write.
Create analogies, metaphors / Ask students to seek comparisons between two seemingly unlike things that are similar in some respects (analogies). Write metaphors for concepts you are working on, i.e. “My body is a hard-working machine.” These enhance understanding at the conceptual level.
Examples and non-examples / Students must guess the concept from examples and non-examples given by the teacher. Students must understand the properties of the topic, concept, or thing. For example: 4 legs, furry, brown, etc. Continue until students have figured it out and can provide their own properties.
Get students out of their seats / Making Connections (finding the missing piece) (P) / Put one half of a problem, idea, or concept on one piece of paper and the other half on another. Have students walk around the room comparing what they have to what others have until they find the missing part of their idea.
Movement and re-energizing the classroom. / Pairing activities – standing and moving / Many of the pairing activities here can be done by getting students up out of their seats. Have them “make eye contact” with someone across the room and pair up with them to answer a question or discuss an issue. Then move to another person for another question. Afterward they can write a summary of what they learned, although it is not necessary.

End of class

Purpose / Activity / Description
Review and summarizing / Outcome sentences / Ask students to reflect back on an experience and write endings to such phrases as “I learned . . . ,” “I’m beginning to wonder . . .,” “I was surprised . . . .” Purpose: To get students to create meaningful learnings for themselves. Also to develop the habit of learning from experience.
2-Minute Paper / Summarize the day’s lecture; describe the most important thing you learned. Ask the question to get the information you need – whether assessment of students or assessment of instruction.
Index card review / Students are allowed to use a 3x5 index card and a pen or pencil to put information on for a review. Pair with another person to create their cards or compare their cards.
Shaping up a Summary / Using shapes analogies on handout (or have students draw them or simply write them on the paper). Write “Something I learned that ‘squares’ with my beliefs,” “A question going ‘around’ in my head,” and “3 points [triangle] I want to remember.”
“I Say” Review / Pairs of students share what they would say about a certain subject matter. Purpose: To review and strengthen learnings and increase student cooperation. (Example, teacher says, “Pair up and take turns telling your partner what you would say about this part of the lesson.” Each response begins with “I say . . .” and goes back and forth until they’ve said all they want about a topic.
Reflection and closure; personalizing the lesson / 3-2-1 Reflection / Have students write 3 things they gained from the lesson, 2 things they want to remember, and 1 thing they want to know more about. (You can change the questions).
Ticket Out the Door / Like the 3-2-1 Reflection, have students do some sort of brief written response to the day’s lesson or, if pressed for time, an oral response to you on their way out the door.
Anticipation/Reaction guide / At the end of the class, you can review the previous anticipation guide and give a new one for the upcoming lesson.

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