This week I think I will continue with my theme of the past weeks for getting started in class. I know that my plans for the weekend include some of my own class planning. After I decide what I want students to know and be able to do by the end of the class period, I generally start with the Do Now. What do I want students knowing/be able to do as they enter class, and then what will they engage in so that I can gather that knowledge.
It cannot be said often enough that in effective classroom routines and time usage, one of the key points is the use of time right from the start of class. Getting class started effectively allows students (and me!) to switch their brains into the necessary work mode. Here, I offer some specifics and resources about how to do that, how to engage students in retrieval practice and in using their working memory. This is by no means exhaustive. In every classroom you will find a different version of Do Nows, under a variety of different names, with a variety of strategies used. Talk to your colleagues, they no doubt have some great ideas.
The Do Now or Bell Ringer, whatever you call it, serves multiple purposes. This short task gives students something to focus on as they walk in the door, gets them started and allows you to get started, and also can provide some essential information for you about what students know, are able to do, and have retained from previous lessons before you start today’s lesson. You will even get information about where each student is at this point in their day…today. The student who normally jumps right in has their head down? What is going on there? (In my experience, this often results in a nurse visit!). The two students in the back who continue to talk and not get started? Hmmm..what happened in the hallway before class? This is all information for you to use as you begin class and think about your instructional moves during that class. You are not solving what happened during class, but those two students will certainly not be grouped together, you will be paying attention, and maybe a little proximity is in order.
One tried and true example requires students to enter class, get their required materials in place (per your classroom routines) and solve a math problem related to prior knowledge. Sometimes, just activating this prior knowledge is the goal. But sometimes you plan to group students for instruction on that day according to their level of retention. If they got the right answer, their problem set and instruction might look different than those who tried it but got the wrong answer. And those who did not even know how to start might be in a third group where there will be some reteaching. All of this with one short problem as students entered class. Easy. Because once they complete that problem, you know who has what understanding before you start, and now the three levels of work you designed for the lesson can be assigned and grouped based on that. And, if there are no differences, if they all either got it correct or incorrect, you have the tools in place, you just have the one group.
The example above is a quick and easy formative assessment, assessment used for instruction. Note the multiple purposes of one part of your lesson planning. You were able to give students a routine and something to immediately think about at the beginning of class, you had a few minutes while they were working to check in with students, and you now know who lands where on an understanding of the day’s topic. We sometimes feel overwhelmed when we think “I have to do all that every class”....sometimes the “all that” can be combined into one step.
In Spanish classes, I have seen students given a question to write a personal response to, such as “describe your favorite character in the movie” or “what did you do this weekend”. First, they write individually. This is a key part of any Do Now or class starter, students need to think and focus individually first. Only after a few minutes (I set a timer!) does this become a question and response activity, where students ask a classmate, respond, and then in turn ask another classmate. In this way, the teacher can identify and correct common mistakes, students get to practice common vocabulary, and class starts with students immediately in the target language. Not to mention, I have seen this done with a ball toss from student to student, so there is even movement involved!
One thing to think about when planning this class starter is the purpose, which is to know what each student in your classroom is bringing into the classroom and into instruction today. This could be an SEL check in, an assessment of prior knowledge, a reactivation of previous work from an earlier lesson, a check in about certain skills, or an opportunity for retrieval practice. If this is done verbally, and not every student speaks, then the purpose is not met. You will have some students, in my experience the ones you most need to check in on, sitting quietly and not engaging. Thus, you do not know what they know. Every student has to have a chance and be required to respond individually.
In my observation of classrooms, this is what I often see not happening. As good as your relationships with students are, as much as you bring out the quiet voices, you need to know what they each know as they walk in the door. And each student needs to think about what they know, to get straight for themselves what their next step might be before we can even think of asking them to take ownership of their learning. Imagine you are the student who did not understand yesterday. You come into class, and are partnered with someone who did understand right away. This person completes the problem quickly, speaks for your partnership, and you are left with no time to think about it or place to indicate, quietly, that you do not know how. It is hard to stay engaged in class now. Do Nows are a perfect time for individual responses.
One of the most flexible and useful tools in a classroom, especially for use in this type of opening or retrieval practice activity, is the mini whiteboard. These are simple classroom tools that can be an asset during class instruction, and also help in the design of a Do Now. You can find these mini whiteboards in many classrooms, especially at the elementary or lower middle school levels. This tool allows students to engage with the material, to practice, and to visually show you in an easy and quick manner what they have accomplished. Ask students to respond to a question or solve a problem, give them time, and then ask them to hold up the board. Now you can see everyone’s answer.
To me, the impermanence of the whiteboard contains a side benefit. If you ask students to open their notebooks, start a fresh page of paper, and practice a question (especially one they might not know the answer to), that is a lot of pressure. If they do not know how to do it, then there is a permanent record of what they don't know. If it is a one word answer, or something that will seem random and disconnected in the notebook, now your highly organized students will not know what to do with that piece of paper. This hyper organized student now loses five minutes because they have to rip the paper out, even the edges of the notebook, and get up and throw the paper away. They are the opposite of focused and ready to learn. The benefit of the white board is that they are not permanent. It is OK if it is not the right answer, or if I made a mistake. It is going to be erased anyway. (Also, these are not expensive…and often your colleagues have a set hanging around their classroom closet that they are not using!)
The mini whiteboard can be used in many classes, thus making this by far a non-exhaustive list. Here are a couple examples of ways to start class using these mini whiteboards:
Complete this math problem
Write a complete sentence using (new vocabulary word)
Conjugate this verb
Draw this chemical reaction
And there are tons of ways to use these during class as you check for understanding too!
What is something you are teaching this week that might benefit from this tool for quick retrieval practice at the beginning of class? And how might you even use this tool throughout class? What other class starter ideas do you have?
Resources: (These are two of the best, most useful books I have read in the past few years!!)
Boxer, Adam(2021). Teaching Secondary Science: A complete Guide. John Catt Educational Ltd.
Jones, Kate (2019). Retrieval Practice: Research and Resources for Every Classroom. John Catt Educational Ltd.
my usual "do now" is a word of the day, picking a new vocabulary word that they may or may not know , but it obviously has a different meaning in Computer science. Showing them that words do have different meanings, as they get stuck in their vocabulary acquisition, calling everything "amazing" - I don't respond with, but want to, if everything in your world is "amazing" why are you not doing cartwheels right now?
I always have my sophomores write 3 complete sentences (to a prompt) for their Do Now. Sometimes I plan things so if they string all their Do Now together, they've written an essay :)