Blogs In the world of teaching, it’s always a challenge to keep students engaged and excited about learning. Sometimes, the usual methods just don’t cut it. But fear not! There are plenty of cool and creative teaching ideas out there that can make your lessons feel fun and exciting. We’ve come up with four unique ways to start your lessons, so you can get your students ready to learn.
1. Emoji Summary
Have your students summarize what they learned yesterday using up to 10 emojis, then use Think-Pair-Share to discuss what they created.
Use our free template to get started.
2. See, Think, Wonder
Show an image or object related to your lesson, then have students make observations and interpretations by sharing what they see, think, and wonder.
Have students use this chart to record their learning.
3. Retrieval
Create a table with prompts for retrieval practice. Students can jump around and answer questions to earn points.
We’ve created this Retrieval template you can customize.
4. Graffiti Wall
Hang a large sheet of paper on the wall or give one to each group. Invite students to write, draw, and express their thoughts on a given topic or image.
Learn more about this Graffiti Wall strategy here.
Continue Learning
Keeping your students focused during the first and last minutes of your class period can be a challenge, but with predictable routines like warm-ups and exit tickets, you can maximize every moment. Discover best practices to captivate your students from the start of your lessons to the very end in Course 5521: Building Better Lessons with Warm-Ups and Exit Tickets.
