Book: Classroom Starters & Plenaries: Creative ideas for use across the curriculum

Brown, Kate (2009). Classroom Starters & Plenaries: Creative ideas for use across the curriculum. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 9781847065452

What makes a good starter or plenary?

Good starters and good plenaries have a lot in common with each other, and also a lot in common with any kind of good teaching activity. They incorporate several, if not all, of the following features:

• Clear aim. The teacher must be clear about how the activity will contribute to students’ learning, and how this fits with the aims of the unit, scheme of work and/ or exam specifications.
• Clear instructions. While keeping ‘teacher talk’ to a minimum, students need to know what they will be doing.
• Engagement. Students are interested in and curious about the material or the style of the activity. They are motivated for the current, or future, lesson.
• Pace. Students start or finish their learning briskly, giving them (and the teacher) a sense of the pace at which they need to operate, a sense of purpose and of moving forward.
• Participation. The activities should involve every student, not just the two or three who always put up their hand to answer a question.
• Access. Activities where even the most basic elements or questions are pitched at the more able members of the group exclude students. The whole class should be able to access the material and make their own contribution.
• Challenge. Students are encouraged to think for themselves and build on what they know. Each student is challenged and stretched – so the activity must allow differentiated outcomes.
• Creativity. These short activities are a chance to try new things, explore a topic in an unexpected way, and to be imaginative and sometimes playful.
• Variety. Activities do not follow a set, repetitive, pattern. They vary from lesson to lesson, based on different stimuli, requiring different types of responses, developing different skills, and using different teaching styles: visual, auditory, kinaesthetic.
• Assessment for learning. Whether in the form of informal comments on students’ oral contributions, answering students’ questions or peer marking of a short test, starters and plenaries often include opportunities for the teacher to assess the learning of the class as a whole, or of individual students. The information gained by the teacher about student progress can help inform the style, pace and content of subsequent teaching; and students can develop their understanding through the feedback they receive.
• Reflection. Students have time to consider how their learning fits into a topic, how the topic is relevant to other subjects and their broader lives, and the progress they have made and can make in the future.

Section 1: In your own words (or pictures)

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Everything you know

At the start of a new topic, explain the title of the new unit of work, and then ask students to write down everything they already know. Set a clear time frame, and then lead feedback of students’ ideas to the class.

Students can use any format to organize what they know: full sentences; bullet points; spider diagrams; mind maps. This can be a good context in which to talk to them about different styles of ordering and presenting material and what works for them.

This activity allows students to draw on their existing learning before building on it, and gives you a sense of what students already know so that you can pitch your lessons effectively.

Variations

• Repeat the activity at the end of the unit and then ask students to compare the two sets of information. What do they think are the most significant things they have learned?
• This activity can also work well at the end of a unit, perhaps as part of revision for an end-of-unit assessment. Give students time at home or in the lesson to read through their notes, and then ask them to write down what they know on the topic. This activity is much more effective if you emphasize the structure of what they know, the key ideas and how they are linked, rather than every single fact and detail. As mentioned above, talk to students about mind mapping and how they think their knowledge can be ordered and subdivided under different headings.

Example

Subject: Geography * Level: Key Stage 3 * Topic: Glaciation

Section 2: Questioning

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Questions … with a twist

Can’t say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’

Explain the key rule – that whatever the question they are asked, students cannot reply with the answers ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. The idea is to encourage students to give longer, more in-depth answers. You can arm a student with a ‘buzzer’ to sound if they hear Yes’ or ‘No’ in the answer. You might want to display on the board some alternative ways to start an answer. This activity works well for questions that are asking for opinion.

Example

Subject: English Literature • Level: Key Stage 4 • Subject: Jane Eyre

Open a lesson by asking students the following questions. They can’t say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, but they could start ‘Through her writing Charlotte Brontè . . , ‘Jane is certainly …’ or ‘To a certain extent . . .’

• Do you feel sympathy for Jane Eyre’s character?
• Do you admire Jane’s character?
• Does Jane face any difficulties?
• Does Jane always do what is right?

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Why?’

Why?’ is a really powerful question and asking it repeatedly can help students develop a line of argument. Begin with an opening question, which starts Why…?’ When a student gives an answer, respond with the same question: Why? Repeat the question until the student has developed his or her explanation as far as possible.

Example

Subject: Citizenship • Level: Key Stage 4 • Topic: The world as a global community

Open with the question, ‘Where are the clothes you are wearing made?’ After looking at their labels, students will likely produce a list of countries including Vietnam, India, China, Indonesia, mostly ‘developing countries’. Ask why: why are so many of our clothes produced in these countries when we are capable of making them in the UK? Answers might include ‘They can make them cheaper’, ‘Cheap labour’ etc. Again ask why: ‘Why can they make them cheaper?’, ‘Why is labour cheap?’ Students may answer Because there are fewer rules and regulations about health and safety, the environment’, ‘Because the employees can be paid less’. You can keep going in this way, each time leading students to a deeper level of understanding on an issue.

This example is adapted from K. Brown and S. Fairbrass (2009), The Citizenship Teacher’s Handbook, London: Continuum.

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True or false?

Read out, write up on the board or project a number of statements to student which relate to the learning in the lesson or in the previous lesson. Ask them to identify and write down whether each statement is true or false.

Some of the questioning strategies mentioned so far encourage students to develop and explain their answers – for example, where answering ‘Yes’ or No is not allowed, or where a higher score is given for a fuller answer. ‘True or false does the opposite – no explanation is required (though can be discussed in the
feedback), allowing a quick-fire round of several questions. This can provide a snappy way to start or end a lesson.

Variations

Distribute mini-whiteboards for students to write their answers on. Project or read statements one at a time, and for each one ask students to write a large T or F on their whiteboard and hold it up. You can give a time limit within which every student must be holding up their board…

Example

Subject : Chemistry • Level: Key Stage 3 • Topic: Chemical reactions

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Peer questioning

Ask students to prepare questions to test the knowledge of their pers. This works well as an alternative when you might otherwise have posed the questions yourself or carried out a short quiz or test. Through peer questioning, students revise the topic while writing the questions, and are then tested by their peers questions. In addition to this double revision, students often feel positive about having the responsibility and control of question setting.

Give students a time limit to write, say, three questions at the back of their books. They can use their notes or textbook at this point. They must know the answer, but must not write it down (or should write it down on another piece of paper). When the time is up, ask students to swap books with the person next to them, and then write the answers to their neighbour’s questions. You might give them a couple of minutes to confer with the person next to them about the question (to overcome confusions about spelling and handwriting). After a set time, ask students to swap books back and mark their neighbours’ answers.

Variations

• Sometimes it is logistically easier for the whole class to have the same questions – but you can still ask students to suggest the questions. Give them few minutes to prepare, and then start the quiz, asking students to offer suggestions for the next question as you go along.
• Pre-determine the type of question students can ask. You could limit them to true / false questions, multiple choice, or fuller answer questions. Or give examples of all these options, and encourage students to use a mixture.
• Ask every student to prepare just one question relating to the learning in the current or previous lesson. Ask for a volunteer, or pick a student, to take the ‘hot seat’ and answer their peer’s questions. You could swap the student in the hot seat around – who can answer the most questions correctly?
• Ask a student to pick a peer who they want to answer their question. If the student they pick gets the answer right, it is then their turn to pick one of their peers to answer their question. If they get it wrong, the first student gets to pick another of their class mates to address their question to.

Example

Subject: Citizenship • Level: Key Stage 3 • Topic: Central government

The following questions were suggested by a Year 8 group at the end of a series of lessons on law making in the UK.

• What am I describing: ‘An area of the UK. There are 659 areas like this in the whole country, with an MP from each one’?
• What does MP stand for?
• Can you name the three main political parties in the UK?
• Where do MPs meet to debate and vote on laws?
• What are ‘shadow’ ministers?
• What are ‘back benchers’?
• What is a ‘party whip’?
• How many times can the House of Lords pass a bill back to the House of Commons before it becomes a law?
• What does ‘devolution’ mean?

Section 3: Key words

Key word anagrams

Mix up the letters of a key word or words and ask students to figure out what the key word is. Then ask them to define it. This works particularly well if you want a short, snappy starter activity to get students thinking before going on to a more complex ‘main’ activity.

Variations

• Ask a student, among those first to arrive to lesson, to choose a key word from the last lesson and create an anagram for his or her peers to solve.
• Try this anagram engine for creating anagrams: www.easypeasy.com/ anagrams.
• Ask students to predict the topic of today’s lesson by solving the anagram.

Examples

Subject: Business Studies • Level: Key Stage 4 • Topic: Marketing

Ask students to solve the anagram ‘Lesion Penguin Quilt’ to discover the topic of the lesson. (Unique Selling Point).

Subject: Biology • Level: Key Stage 4 • Topic: Hormones

That is the role of the mystery hormone in the body? ‘Person Erg Toe’ (Progeserone).

Section 4: Game Show

Pp 70

Pictionary

Another fun way of reinforcing the meaning of key words. Ask for a volunteer, or pick a student. Give them a card with a key word written on it, and a board pen. Give the student 30 seconds in which to think about how they might picture the word, and then ask them to start drawing. The aim of the rest of the class is to guess what is being drawn, without the aid of gesticulation from the ‘draw-er. Take answers from students who put up their hands, or allow students to shout out. The ‘draw-er’ stops drawing when the word is guessed or, if you set a timer going, when the allotted time runs out. Ask the student who guesses correctly to say what it is about the picture that reflects the key word for them. Can they also give a definition of the key word? You can repeat the process once or twice more, picking different students and different key words, depending on the amount of time you have available.

Variations

• You can make this quick activity into a longer team game. You will need to divide the class into two teams, and have more key word cards prepared. Pick a team to start, and ask them to volunteer (or you can select) a draw-er from within the team. Use a timer (a minute works well) and ask the ‘draw-er to draw their word with in that time. Only their own er’ to draw their word within that time. Only their own team can guess the word, and if they get the right word within the time, they get a point for their team. If the opposite team shout out the word, the point still goes to the drawing team. Repeat the process for the other team. Allow two or three rounds and see who scores the highest.
• Give the ‘draw-er’ a longer time limit, say three minutes, and a pack of several cards. How many can they get the class, or their team, to guess within the time limit? They may ‘pass’ on one word, but otherwise they must work their way through the cards in order.

Examples

Subject: Biology • Level: Key Stage 3 • Topic: The spread of microbes

At the end of a lesson on the spread of microbes, or at the start of the next lesson, ask students to draw the ways in which microbes can be transmitted. You might give the first student the word ‘animals’, another ‘touch’, and another ‘water’ Explain to the rest of the class that they are guessing the type of transmission from the drawing. Ask the student who guesses correctly to explain a bit more about the type of transmission – for example, for ‘animals’ they might say that some animals carry harmful microbes that are passed on to a person if they are scratched or bitten by that animal. Can the student give an example (e.g. mosquitoes carry malaria)?

Subject: Spanish • Level: Key Stage 3 • Topic: Various, verb revision

Give the first student to arrive in class a card with a Spanish verb written on it (perhaps ‘Beber or ‘Mirar) and a board pen. Ask the student to draw a picture of someone taking the action that the word describes, for the rest of the class to guess, in Spanish, as they arrive. Once a student guesses correctly, ask them
to give the English translation to reinforce their understanding (in this case ‘to drink’ and ‘to look at’).

Section 5: Figure it out

Pg 86

Mystery object

Present students with an object. Ask them to think about, or discuss in pairs, the significance of this item in light of what they have been learning. What do they think the object is? Why? How is it linked to the topic they have been studying? Students respond well to the ‘mystery’ element of this activity and it can really get them thinking.
Depending on how ‘mysterious’ the item is, students may not get the right answer. You can help them through your feedback to their guesses, steering subsequent guesses and getting students thinking: ‘That’s possible, but it’s not really related to the Cold War’, or ‘Could be, but think a bit more about the shape of the object.
When the allotted time is up, or you feel students’ engagement is waning, let them know the answer. Or you can offer a small reward to any team that can tell you next lesson.

Variations

• Instead of a mystery object, use a mystery image (a photograph or picture), a mystery number, or even a mystery sound. Depending on the mystery image, you could ask students to guess what it is, where it is, or what is happening/has happened.
• Rather than asking students to focus on guessing what the object is, ask them to give any observations they have about the object, to help build up a picture of what it is for, e.g. It is very light, It has no markings on the surface”
• What five questions do students think, if answered, would give them enough information to work out what the object is? Questions which start with the following words can be helpful – students could ask one of each. Who? What? Why? Where? When?
• If you do not have a suitable mystery item to hand, an alternative is to provide students clues to help them guess the mystery person, event, or even process you have in mind. Start with broad clues (The person I am thinking of was a significant figure in post-war politics) and slowly narrow down (‘This person was not present at the conference at Yalta, but was present at Potsdam’; ‘This person had a doctrine that the US would support countries fighting against communism’).

Examples

Subject: Music • Level: Key Stage 4 • Topic: African music

Having learned about African musical instruments, show GCSE Music students a picture of an instrument they have not studied, or if possible the instrument itself (for example, an mbira, an instrument from Zimbabwe). Ask students if they know what the instrument is. If they do not know immediately, what can they learn from looking at the picture? What part of the world is it likely to be from? How does it make a sound? What is the container it sits in made of, and what is its purpose? Through discussing the image they can learn a lot about the mystery instrument.

Subject: History • Level: Key Stage 3 Topic: Trench warfare

At the beginning or end of a lesson on trench warfare, write the following number on the board: 20 million. Challenge students to consider what it might represent, in relation to the topics they have been covering. The answer is that this is an estimate of the number of combined military and civilian deaths during World War 1.

Subject: Citizenship • Level: Key Stage 3 or 4 • Topic: Humanitarian law

The British Red Cross give a very powerful example of a ‘Guess the mystery object activity. In the Education section of their website (www.redcrows.org.uk) you can find a picture of a small, green, plastic-looking object which you can show to your class, While looking like a toy, the object in a landmine, and is a good way to introduce a lesson on humanitarian law in Citizenship.

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Odd word out

This activity is a quick starter or plenary that gets students thinking at the start of the lesson or brings together what they have been learning about at the end.
Write or project four words on the board, all key words or words related to the topic, ‘Three of the words should be related to each other in some way. ‘The fourth should be the ‘odd one out’, not falling, into the same category, though it can be related to one or more of the words in a different way.

Ask students to identify which word is the ‘odd word out’, either writing down their answer or putting, up their hand. Which did they pick? Why? Two or three ‘odd word out’ puzzles, one after the other, make a good length starter or plenary.

Variations

• Having shown students an example, ask them to try writing their own ‘odd word out’ puzzle. Ask for volunteers to read out or write their puzzle on the board for the rest of the class to figure out.
• This activity also works for sentences (spot the sentence that does not match) and pictures (‘odd photo out’).

Examples

Subject: Geography • Level: Key Stage 4 • Topic: Glaciation

Three ‘odd word out’ sets for a plenary towards the end of a unit on glaciation might be:

1. Corrie Striation Drumlin U-shaped valley
2. Till Esker Drumlin Outwash plain
3. V-shaped valley Hanging valley Arete Pyramidal peak

Answers:

1. Drumlin – this is a feature created by glacial deposition, the others are features created by glacial erosion.
2. Till – this is the generic name for material deposited by a glacier, the other terms are for specific features of deposition.
3. V-shaped valley – this is a feature created by a river, the others are features created by a glacier.

Subject: French • Level: Key Stage 3 • Topic: Animal vocabulary

These three ‘odd word out’ word sets could be used to revise animals names:

1. le cobaye le chou le chien le lapin

2. le tigre T’éléphant le chat la vache

3. le cheval la souris la vache le cochon

Answers:

1. Le chou – this is a cabbage, all the others are animals.

2. Le chat – the only animal in this list commonly kept as a pet.

3. La souris – a tiny animal compared with the others in the list.

Subject: English language • Level: Key Stage 3 • Topic: Writing styles

Challenge students studying writing styles to select the ‘odd sentence out’ from the following:

• ‘Excuse me, please may I have my tea with two sugars.’
• If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I would also very much like a biscuit.’
• ‘Lovely cuppa!’
• Yes, that would be sufficient milk, thank you.’

Section 6: Physical

Pp 111

Stand on the line

This is a great activity for any topic which involves students’ opinions. It gets them out of their seats and physically indicating their opinion. This means that every student has to think about his or her own view, even those who are reticent to express it orally.

Move desks to give enough space for students to stand along one side of the classroom. Read or project a statement such as: ‘Young people who commit crimes should be harshly punished’; ‘Darcy is the character who demonstrates the most prejudice’; ‘It is possible to have a Just War’.

Invite a few students, or all the class, to stand along an imaginary line (a ‘values continuum line) running from ‘Strongly agree’ at one side of the room to “Strongly disagree’ at the other, with Neither agree nor disagree’ right in the middle. If you have time beforehand, you can prepare signs to indicate the ends of the continuum.

Ask some students why they are standing where they are. ‘Because Dan did, or ‘I don’t know are not acceptable answers. Emphasize that as they hear their peers opinions, they are free to change theirs and move along the line, but when they move they may have to explain why; whose arguments have convinced them?

‘Stand on the line’ can work well as a starter to move into a discussion, or as a stimulus for a piece of written work in which students justify their position on the continuum.

Variations

• If it is logistically difficult to get students moving around, they can mark their opinions on a worksheet version of the values continuum. The down side of this is that a mark in pen is more difficult to change than a physical position in the classroom – it is more difficult for students to respond flexibly as they hear the opinions of others.
• You can create a semi-permanent values continuum if you want to refer back to it. Ask students to write their opinions on paper, provide them with clothes pegs and then invite them to hang their opinions on a ‘values washing-line’, a string running across the classroom. The washing-line can then remain in place for the next few lessons, and provide the focus for subsequent starters and plenaries when you could give students the opportunity to edit and/ or move their opinion along the line.

This is adapted from an idea by Brian Jacobs, a Citizenship teacher at Cedar Mount High School in Manchester, described in K. Brown and S. Fairbrass (2009), The Citizenship Teacher’s Handbook, London: Continuum.)

Examples

Subject: Citizenship Level: Key Stage 3 • Topic: Introduction to Citizenship

The worksheet below is a values continuum worksheet introducing students to 0the topics they will cover in Citizenship lessons.



Section 7: Reflect on your learning

pg 128

Top tips

This activity helps your students think about what worked for them in getting to grips with a new skill. That might be calculating volume, measuring wind speed, using the passé composé or keeping safe in a laboratory. What advice would they give to someone about to start learning? Ask students, individually or in pairs, to put together their list of top tips. In deciding on what should go in their tips, students reflect on their new skill and what they think is particularly important, tricky or relevant.

Variations

• If the skill is one that students will use all year, such as how to measure distance on a map, or how to use a Bunsen burner safely, you could display the “Top tips’ around the classroom. Ask students to contribute their advice, and compile a single list on the board, adapting and adding points in response to students’ ideas. Type or write these up for display. Alternatively, ask all students to present their tips for display in an eye-catching and clear format, and create a wall display.
• As well as giving advice on specific skills, you can use this activity to encourage students to consider what makes a good learner more generally. What tips would students give to, say, new Year 7 or Year 10 students on how to do well in Spanish, or Maths, or RE? What would they do differently if they started the year again? You might provide some examples to get students thinking, such as: ‘Keep notes in order for when you come to revise’; ‘Do your homework as soon as possible after the lesson so you remember what you have to do’; ‘Put your opinion forward in class so that you can adapt it in response to feedback from your friends and the teacher’. While notionally these tips are being prepared for another class, they allow students in your class to think about themselves as learners.

Example

Subject: Geography • Level: Key Stage 3 • Topic: Annotation

Below are some ‘Top tips on annotating’, written by a Year 9 Geography student at the end of a lesson on annotating photographs.

Subject: German • Level: Key Stage 3 • Topic: Various

Some tips on how to do well in German, compiled by Year 8 German students: