creative commons licensed (BY-NC-SA) flickr photo by Edgar Barany: http://flickr.com/photos/edgarbarany/3248630063
English teacher Brian Sztabnik wrote an Excellent Edutopia piece on ways to engage students at the beginning and end of classes.
Eight minutes that matter most and eight ways to make them great:
“If we fail to engage students at the start, we may never get them back. If we don’t know the end result, we risk moving haphazardly from one activity to the next. Every moment in a lesson plan should tell.
The eight minutes that matter most are the beginning and endings. If a lesson does not start off strong by activating prior knowledge, creating anticipation, or establishing goals, student interest wanes, and you have to do some heavy lifting to get them back. If it fails to check for understanding, you will never know if the lesson’s goal was attained.” Read the entire piece here.