Before the bell rings
“If you want a happy ending it depends, of course, on where you stop your story.”
How do you end your class?
Sounds like a simple question….but difficult to answer because those last minutes matter!
Many of us (teachers) carefully craft the beginning of a lesson and the start of each class session. However, often these same classes and lessons end on a disappointing note. Having been students, we know that there is a sense of restlessness to leave the class during the waning minutes. Typically, at the end of class, students can be seen shuffling papers, collecting their materials and chatting with fellow students while the teacher rushes to summarize the day’s work. Yet, these last few moments during the class period can be the most productive to tie the whole lesson together.
CLOSURE! – What the teacher does to facilitate wrap-up at the end of the lesson – Normally it is a quick review, to remind students what it was that they learned (or should learn) and allows the teacher to see where the students are to assist in planning for the next lesson.
Closure helps teachers in
- Reviewing the key points of the lesson.
- Giving students opportunities to draw conclusions from the lesson.
- Describing when students can use this new information.
- Previewing future lessons.
- Creating a smooth transition from one lesson to the next.
Closure allows students to
- Summarize main ideas of the lesson.
- Answer questions posed at the beginning of the lesson.
- Link both the past and the future.
- Understand the relevance and importance of the lesson.
Here are a few quick and easy five-minute activities that will be effective to wrap up lessons.
| Activity | Description |
|---|---|
| Three Ws | Students discuss or write • What did we learn today? • So What? • Now What? |
| Quiz | 2-4 questions to show/test what they learned. Could be daily or intermittent. Examples: Sample Math Quiz • 7000 + 7 + 50000 + ? + 10 = 57,217. Ans: 200 • The answer for (4×4)+(4/4)+4-4 is Ans: 17 • The difference between the largest 3 digit number & the smallest 2 digit number is __________ Ans: 989 |
| One minute papers | One minute papers ask students to respond to questions such as: “What was the most important thing you learned in today’s class?” or “What question or questions from today’s class remain unanswered?” |
| Concept map/mind map | Students make a concept map of the lesson – At its heart is a central topic of the chapter with the branches representing main ideas, all of which connect to the central idea. A concept map is a colourful, visual form of representing things. |
| Finish the sentence | This quick and easy activity helps students make connections to their learning and summarize what they learned in a way that is meaningful to them. Examples: English Grammar • I hope we got all of our questions ______ (write / right) • We ______ all the answers (no, know) • I went to the circus and my friend came ______ (two, too) • The ball came _________ the window (threw, through) |
| Odd man out | Helps students recognize and group words according to a theme. The teacher should make several lists composed of words from a related subject area with one word that serves as a distracter. Students need to identify the odd man out. Example: Pick the odd man out of the following • Water, Ice, Oil, Steam – Ans: Oil (not a state of water) • Sahara, Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic – Ans: Sahara (desert) • Cow, Tiger, Deer, Goat – Ans: Tiger (Carnivore) |
| Pre-and post-testing | A measurement of the learning received during the class as a result of comparing what the student knew before in a pre-test and after the class experience in a post-test. |
| Pose an open-ended question/problem | Pose open ended question based on the topic dealt in the class – An open ended question is an unstructured question in which possible answers are not suggested, and the student answers it in his or her own words. Such questions usually begin with a how, what, when, where, and why (such as “What factors you take into account when buying a vehicle?” or “In your opinion, what is the reasonable price for this item?”) |
| Design a question | Have each student design a test question on the content. Students love to see their questions used on the actual test. |
To sum up, Closure is an opportunity for a teacher to decide:
1. if additional practice is needed
2. whether you need to re-teach
3. whether you can move on to the next part of the lesson
The intellectual work should be done by the students – not the teacher summarizing for the students and telling them what they earned.
So, let’s practice it and make sure that we give a meaningful end to the lesson.
The article has been contributed by Butterfly Fields, a company working in the domain of innovative teaching learning techniques. Butterfly Fields also specializes in setting up innovation spaces, especially for Science/Math, in schools. To know more about the work the company does, visit www.butterflyfields.com or call 040 2771 1020.
