Plan 7: Planning an Effective Lesson Opening and Closing

Getting Ready

Pull up the 5 step lesson template.

Read the questions under Opening and Closing.

These questions can be found in the shaded region.

Now, write down one thing you know on one Post-It

Write down one thing you want to know on another Post-It

Stick your Post-Its to the board

What do you consider when planning Openings and Closing?

OPENING How will you communicate what is about to happen? How will you communicate how it will happen? How will you communicate its importance? How will you communicate connections to previous lessons? How will you engage students and capture their interest? CLOSING How will students summarize and state the significance of what they learned? If the independent practice did not serve as an assessment, how will students attempt independent mastery of the knowledge and/or skills introduced and practiced above? Why will students be engaged?
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Session Objective

Fellows will be able to plan an effective lesson opening and closing.

Agenda

Opening Toolbox of Effective Openings Snappy Practice of Openings

Toolbox of Effective Closings

Snappy Practice of Closings

Closing

What questions should be answered in an OPENING

What are the students going to learn? Why is it important to learn it? How does it relate to whats been done previously? How will they learn it? Why will students be engaged? What will capture their interest? What are the behavioral expectations?

Bottom Line - By generating excitement and anticipation during a lesson opening, teachers can engage students and capture their interest.

What questions should be answered in an OPENING

What are the students going to learn? Why is it important to learn it? How does it relate to whats been done previously? How will they learn it? Why will students be engaged? What will capture their interest? What are the behavioral expectations?

Bottom Line - By generating excitement and anticipation during a lesson opening, teachers can engage students and capture their interest.

Openings Include Clear Expectations of Behavior

Openings include behavioral expectations. Your collaborative has likely set a behavioral expectation for the Opening every day. Those expectations should be carried out during the Opening. Simply copy and paste those expectations into the Opening section of you plan. The following examples have left out behavioral expectations because that would be redundant. Assume the expectations are as follows:
1. 2.

Move directly and silently to you seat. Following the verbal or written instructions.

3.

Raise you hand and wait if you have a question.

Openings - T-Chart

When class begins, students follow the instructions on the board: For your Start Up, draw a T-chart in your notebook. On the left hand side, you have three minutes to list all of the things a citizen of a lawless society might say are the advantages of his/her society. After three minutes, Ms. Donnelly leads a quick class brainstorm during which students share their lists on the board. Ms. Donnelly then explains that the list of all disadvantages or all dangers is much longer than the lists they just generated, and they will be spending the class figuring out some specific ways in which a lawless society is harmful. Referencing their previous units on the different government systems, Ms. Donnelly notes that this lesson will extend their current understanding because they had only studied the structure and function societies with laws. Ss will look at an excerpt from Lord of the Flies then have a debate. They will fill in the other side of their T-chart. Lastly there will be an exit slip. Ms. Donnelly then goes into her INM.

Opening Connect to Previous Learning - Brainstorm

Brainstorm

Teacher: Let us list different components of weather that we just explored and defined. Students: Temperature, wind, precipitation Teacher: Thank you. Now, I have a question that I thought about the other day when the wind was blowing. Does weather influence what the earth looks like? And if so, how?

Teacher facilitates a 3-4 minute brainstorming discussion on how weather may influence the earth.

Teacher: Great. Today we will use class time to explore how wind has changed the earth. We will watch a video, then you will create your own landscapes before and after thousands of years of strong wind. Lastly, there will be an exit slip. Lets get started!

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Opening Connect to Previous Learning Quick Write

Quick-Write
Writing prompt: On a piece of paper, list the different components of weather that we just explored and defined in our last unit.

Students write (1-2 minutes).

Teacher: What were your responses?

Teacher verbally gathers S answers.

Teacher: Great. Today we will use class time to explore how one of those components has changed the earth. WIND! We will watch a video, then you will create your own landscapes before and after thousands of years of strong wind. Lastly, there will be an exit slip. Lets get started!.

Opening Connect to Previous Learning Quick Write

Quick-Write
Writing prompt: On a piece of paper, list the different components of weather that we just explored and defined in our last unit.

Students write (1-2 minutes).

Teacher: What were your responses?

Teacher verbally gathers S answers.

Teacher: Great. Today we will use class time to explore how one of those components has changed the earth. WIND! We will watch a video, then you will create your own landscapes before and after thousands of years of strong wind. Lastly, there will be an exit slip. Lets get started!.

Opening - Create Excitement T/F

True/False The earth has not changed significantly over the past 10 years. 2) The wind dramatically changes the geography of the earth. Mountains have always looked the same.

T gathers S answers verbally. T does not state whether answers are correct or incorrect, but instead builds interest and mystery around the above statements.
T says: We are going to spend the next two weeks looking at the above statements. Today we will use class time to explore how wind from #2 actually has changed the earth. We will watch a video, then you will create your own landscapes before and after strong wind. Lastly, there will be an exit slip. Lets get started!

Opening - To Create Demonstration

Demonstration
1) Teacher brings in a clay model of the Grand Canyon, filled with sand. She tilts the model and pours water from the top. As students watch, the water flows to the bottom and washes away all the sand, leaving just the canyon. 2) Writing Prompt: How does this demonstration relate to the real world? T gives 4 minutes to write. T says In the upcoming unit, we will explore ways in which the earths weather influences the earths shape. Raise your hand if you have an idea of how this happens from the demonstration I just did. Today we will use class time to explore how rain has changed the earth. We will watch a video, then you will create your own landscapes before and after strong rain. Lastly, there will be an exit slip. Lets get started!

Opening - Create Excitement Sensory Activity

Sensory Activity

Teacher plays an audio file that captures the sound of howling wind or a storm, and asks students to write or draw as they listen, describing what they think is happening to the land where this event is taking place. Ss then share their descriptions or drawings with a partner, explaining why they made the choices they made. The teacher calls on a few pairs to share what they discussed. T says: In the upcoming unit, we will explore ways in which the earths weather influences the earths shape. Raise your hand if you have an idea of how this happens from the activity you just did. Today we will use class time to explore how wind has changed the earth. We will watch a video, then you will create your own landscapes before and after strong wind. Lastly, there will be an exit slip. Lets get started!

Opening ABCDES

See handout

Opening Gallery Walk

T has centers with pictures of extreme landscapes around the classroom. Under each picture are two questions: Where do you think this is? What you do think made the earth look this way?

On the board it says: (1) Travel to each station respectfully. (2) Answer the questions in your journal. (3) Sit down when you are finished.
T says: Great. Today we will use class time to explore how one of these landscapes was made (points to picture). It was created by WIND! We will watch a video, then you will create your own landscapes before and after thousands of years of strong wind. Lastly, there will be an exit slip. Lets get started!

Opening - Song

T creates a new song or steals an already made song to play for Ss as they enter. Song is about the desert. After the song ends, the T tells the Ss they will learn how places like the desert were made. There are many factors that go into why certain places of earth look the way they do. One of those factors is the WIND. Today, we will watch a video, then you will create your own landscapes before and after thousands of years of strong wind. Lastly, there will be an exit slip. Lets get started!

OPENINGS

T chart

Brainstorm
Quick Write True/False Demonstration Sensory Activity

ABCDE S
Gallery Walk Song

Agenda

Opening (done) Toolbox of Effective Openings (done) Snappy Practice of Openings (NOW)

Toolbox of Effective Closings

Snappy Practice of Closings

Closing

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Fellow Snappy Practice

Pick one of the Opening examples.

Create an Opening for one of your upcoming lessons

You will have 8 minutes to do so. Pick a partner and present your Opening to her/him. Feedback. Switch Repeat.

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What questions should be answered in an CLOSING

CLOSING How will students summarize and state the significance of what they learned? If the independent practice did not serve as an assessment, how will students attempt independent mastery of the knowledge and/or skills introduced and practiced above? Why will students be engaged?

Bottom Line By summarizing what Ss have learned, Ss are more likely to remember what has been learned. Celebrate the success and how they are now smarter.

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Closing - Surprise

Throughout class reference a poster covered by a curtain. Build interest. At the closing Reveal the poster! Why do you think I chose this poster to sum up todays lesson. Think about it for 30 seconds, then share with your partner for 30 seconds, then I will call on the person sitting quietly, with their hands raised and their eyes on me.

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Closing 3, 2,1

After Ss turn in their IP. They refer to the directions on the board: On the back of your IP, list 3 important facts you learned. List 2 interesting things you learned. And 1 question you still have. Several Ss share what they wrote before class is dismissed.
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Closing Act it out!

S or group of Ss come to the front and act out what they learned today.

Closing Pair Up Once they pair up, give the class a review question to discuss (i.e. tell your partner the difference between a right angle and acute angle). After they discuss, tell Ss to point to their partner if they had a really good answer, and have a few Ss share what they discussed. Then you can have them switch partners and discuss another question, and you can go as long or short as you need to.

Closing Rally Robin

Students work with the person who sits across from them. Their goal is to rally (think volleyball or tennis) as many ideas as they can back and forth. A good Rally Robin question needs to have lots of answers. Like, Name all the examples of matter in this room that you can think of. or Name different types of shapes or Name characters from the story today.
Then partner one starts, and they just name back and forth until I call time.

Closing Real World

T says Think of five different ways you can use todays lesson outside this classroom. T calls on Ss.

Closing Guest Teacher

Ask a S to come to the front and teach the lesson or summarize the lesson in 1 minute of less

Closing - Quiz

Have a fun game-show or quiz-game at the end of class. Randomly pick a S to answer a KPs related questions. If they get it right, the class gets a point. Track this publicly. Make as complex or as simple as you can manage.

Closing Post Problem

Post the aligned PMR question in the front of the room for the Opening. Ask Ss to solve it or answer it. When it proves difficult, T does the proper Opening and tells Ss they were learn the answer during class Answer the posted question as a Closing and recap of what has happened.

Closing KWL chart

Have Ss list what they Know and what they Want to learn about the objective at the start of class (in the opening) At the end of class have them fill in the last column, what Ss have Learned. Do this with post-its so that all Ss can learn.

Closing T/F

T usually uses True or False questions because they are quick. T asks several True/False questions before the lesson. Then we do the lesson as usual. After the lesson has finished, T have them take their paper back out and turn it to the side. T ask the same true/false questions again. After Ss have answered them this time, go over the correct answers. Ask to see how many improved on the questions. This makes them feel good about what they have accomplished.

Closing Txt ;)

A friend texts you and asks what you have learned in class today. What would you text back to you friend?

Closings -

Surprise Act It Out!

3, 2, 1 Pair Up

Rally Robin
Guest Teacher

Real World
Quiz

Post Problem
T/F

KWL

Txt ;)

Agenda

Opening (done) Toolbox of Effective Openings (done) Snappy Practice of Openings (done)

Toolbox of Effective Closings (done)

Snappy Practice of Closings (NOW)

Closing

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Fellow Snappy Practice

Pick one of the Closing examples.

Create a Closing for one of your upcoming lessons

You will have 8 minutes to do so. Pick a partner and present your Closing to her/him. Feedback. Switch Repeat.

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Whats Next?

Tomorrow we will take a look at your DATA!!! So excited.

Be sure to compile and input your Diagnostic data for sessions tomorrow afternoon.

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The Bottom Line

Effective Openings and Closings allows Ss to be ready for knowledge and remember it effectively

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KWL

Write on the post it something you have learned.

Post it on the board.

Go on break.