Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Discussion Post Week 3 - Lesson Openers
Washington State has recently gone through a major change in the teacher evaluation the state uses. I have personally embraced the process and have enjoyed the focus on teacher growth and instructional practice. One of the focus areas for instructional practice is lesson openers, teachers are evaluated on their use of this strategy. Lesson openers are generally a classroom activity that engages students in addressing the skills and content taught in the lesson for the day. Other common teaching vocabulary for this instructional practice include anticipatory set, bell-ringer, entry tasks, hook, leader, lead-in. These can be used in a very systematic way each day to get their classroom going even if there isn't a direct tie to the day's lesson. They can also be used to heighten student awareness about the lesson and pique interest and curiosity. In my ideal world, those two purposes would be combined every day. Though, I struggled to do this on a regular basis.
What are some of your favorite lesson openers? How do you blend the two purposes to make an awesome lesson opener?
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Great ideas! I am a huge fan of do nows to get students in the "science mindset". Occasionally I ask them fun questions like "Make as many words as you can from the letters A, C, E, R, S" as an opener for chemical bonding. It is fun because it engages them in a fun, relatively easy activity and then makes them think, "How is this connected to science?" I also like to have them think about what words mean, such as decompose or synthesize when about to introduce types of reactions. They like being able to share their own thoughts about a vocabulary word before we use it in the scientific sense. My students tend to like the "odd" questions that don't DIRECTLY connect to science, but do once they think deeply about it. Hope this helps :)
ReplyDeleteI love these ideas, thanks for sharing. I especially love the making words from letters as it can align to any content and the literacy-rich Common Core.
DeleteAw man, where to begin? I usually one of two a main openers. My go to opener is using a video clip, which I usually find on Youtube, or I usually have my students some sort of hunt. There are times that I have them do both activities. I find it hard for myself to come up with an awesome opener, which leads to an awesome opener!
ReplyDeleteVideo clips can be so engaging, I just struggle with the time investment it takes to find really good ones. When you say they go on a "hunt" is that like an internet search? Do you have devices for each student in your class?
DeleteThanks for sharing!
I like to play 4-square with my students and get them out of their seats. I label each corner (agree, strongly agree, disagree, strongly disagree) and we discuss some main ideas or themes in the upcoming text. In my opinion, it is a small improvement to a traditional anticipation guide.
ReplyDeleteSuch a good reminder to get students up and moving! I do use 4-square (or 4-corners), but haven't really done it as a lesson opener. That is a great place for it! Thank You!
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