lesson closure

[Unregistered]

I have read that having good closure to your lesson is important for students's learning? Does anyone have any good ideas for lesson closure? I teach social studies, but any ideas would be great? Thanks

[BigDaddyTeacher]

Hi - I think it really depends on what the subject matter is that you are covering in the lesson. Can you give us some ideas on your lesson subjects?

[Handon]

I honestly give my kids a 4 question quiz everyday at the end. At first, they complain. Later, they realize that this really is the best prep they could have had for their test at the end of the unit.

I do the quiz in a fair way. I always drop their lowest grade for each unit.

I have to say it helps the students and myself a great deal!

[Unregistered]

I sometimes give out a "door pass." It is a one to two question pass that students need to complete in the last 3-4 minutes before class ends. this helps me to see what people are getting from the class and whether they are meeting class objectives.

[Unregistered]

Go around the room asking students to tell one thing that they learned today. Since each student can only give one thing, this gives more students a chance to respond and may jog the memory of students that do not usually respond.

[Unregistered]

Actually, I think the good thing about a "good closure" is that it doesn't matter what your lesson was....With that said here are some ideas:
* 3-2-1: Give each student an index card. Have them write 3 things they found interesting about today's class, 2 things they learned and one thing they still have a question about.

* Class summary: Have each student write one paragraph about what the class was about.

* Timeline: (I teach English and use this with stories, but I image you could use it with History) Ask the students to plot out the events that you talked aobut in class (I focus on the events in a plot graph - introduction, conflict, rising action, etc., but you could do it by either date, or inciting action, next event, etc.)

* Fishbowl: You may have heard of this and even used it in class, but it's also a great way to wrap up class time. Every student writes down a question about the lesson that they have. They then form 2 circles an outside one and an inside one with each circle facing the other. Students then ask their question of the person in front of them. After a few minutes switch it up "everyone on the inside circle rotate left 3 people" , and again. To finish the activity have the students go back to their seats and write a summary of what they learned about their question and hand it in.

All these activities do a couple of things:
1. They allow the studnet to actively think about what happened in class helping them to be reflective learners, and
2. It allows you to assess what they got and what they didn't get and what you need to review before moving on.

Just to let you know there are tons of ideas out there - go on to the web and surf.

I hope these were helpful! Good luck - have fun!

[Unregistered]

I often used 3 whats: What did we learn today? So what? (How is this important? relevant? useful?) Now what? (Follow up? How does this relate to our unit outcomes?)

[Unregistered]

I often ask the kids to "pair-share"... tell the person next to you 2 (3,4,5 etc) things you have learned today. I also use this as a reminder when we start a new lesson on an ongoing topic as well. Sometimes we go round the room asking what we learnt - this is something everyone can do and it self-differentiates.
Personally, I think this kind of closure is really important as it helps the kids focus on the main objective of the lesson - and if you hear a lot of wierd answers, you know the teaching has gone awry somewhere !!

[Unregistered]

I have an overhead projector sheet with generic questions on it like:

1. One thing I learned today was ...

2. Something from today's lesson that I want to find out more about is ...

3. Something I found difficult to understand today was ...

4. I really enjoyed today's lesson because ...

5. I found today's lesson difficult because ...

and some more. Students select any two to write about before they leave the classroom.
This could work for any subject.

[drbabe]

I like your 3-2-1 idea. I have never used closure, but my current principal demands one. For my next evaluation, I plan to do a lesson on projectile motion and think your simple index card idea is great and something that my students will do.

Actually, I think the good thing about a "good closure" is that it doesn't matter what your lesson was....With that said here are some ideas:
* 3-2-1: Give each student an index card. Have them write 3 things they found interesting about today's class, 2 things they learned and one thing they still have a question about.

* Class summary: Have each student write one paragraph about what the class was about.

* Timeline: (I teach English and use this with stories, but I image you could use it with History) Ask the students to plot out the events that you talked aobut in class (I focus on the events in a plot graph - introduction, conflict, rising action, etc., but you could do it by either date, or inciting action, next event, etc.)

* Fishbowl: You may have heard of this and even used it in class, but it's also a great way to wrap up class time. Every student writes down a question about the lesson that they have. They then form 2 circles an outside one and an inside one with each circle facing the other. Students then ask their question of the person in front of them. After a few minutes switch it up "everyone on the inside circle rotate left 3 people" , and again. To finish the activity have the students go back to their seats and write a summary of what they learned about their question and hand it in.

All these activities do a couple of things:
1. They allow the studnet to actively think about what happened in class helping them to be reflective learners, and
2. It allows you to assess what they got and what they didn't get and what you need to review before moving on.

Just to let you know there are tons of ideas out there - go on to the web and surf.

I hope these were helpful! Good luck - have fun!

[Unregistered]

I often play a short game that incorporates some of the lesson's content. This provides review and allows me (and the students) to gauge their overall understanding to an extent. Possibly most important is that the class leaves in a very positive mood. This can also be done at the beginning of lessons to review the previous lesson's content, and again, it makes for a happy class.

Steve

[Scott Boring]

I consider myself a fanatic about closure. Here are some ideas. Let the kids write a one-paragraph summary of the lesson.

Have some sentence starters permanently displayed on a poster,

I learned...
I'm beginning to wonder...
I have a question about...
I'm beginning to understand...
I want to know…
I feel…
I think…
Today, I understood…
I was surprised that…
I would still like to know more about…
I am still confused about…
This lesson was valuable because…

Have the students pick one or two to answer, and then whip around the room and every student reads one of their answers. If there is time, do another one and have the students share. This one is my favorite. Sometimes the students write them on post-it's and put them on the door as they leave.

Try to come up with ways that the teacher becomes the learner, not the teacher summarizing what the students learned. Closure should always be something that is student-generated where the teacher is hearing from the students.

Search on the Internet for closure stategies.

[Syed Khalid Zaki]

I am a visiting faculty at University of Karachi Business School-Pakistan.I teach Business Communication & Marketing courses.Generally in the first session I do the following:
1.I lecture for half an hour or so & then wrap the session with discussing key ideas with the aid of an OHP.
2.I ask the students to write whatever we have discussed keeping the slides on the OHP.I keep them changing also to cover the entire discussion.

I have found it to be useful in assesing the general as well as particular standard of the class/student.Who need what:Remedial help,Brush up grammar,Content,Organization,etc.

I think you can close the lesson by reiterating key ideas & words that we have discussed.Actually I ask the students to explainn what we discussed in the last class in the opening session of the next class.I find it more useful as the students have assimilated the lecture & gone thru the text as well.

But techers have to finish the curriculum;plus 16 chapters in 46 sessions of 1.5 hours with a large class sometime exceeding 50 students.This makes a formal or planned lesson closure difficult.

[Unregistered]

In regards to the person who said "Quiz 'em" I don't agree with this idea.

In college I had a prof who at the end of a particular class lecutre gave us a pop-quiz. We all freaked (grad students by the way) and did poorly. As she let us go she asked to think about why we did poorly. When we returned to class the next day we worked with (applied) what she had lectured about and took the same quiz again. She then opened discussion about the previous quiz and here's what we came up with (and what she was trying to teach):

(1)All students need to "work" with the material in some way, (2)all students need time to process the material and (3)all students need to spend time with material.

This is the same reason why older people can't remember what they had for breakfast, unless they have had the same thing every morning for x amount of years. Your brain needs to work with material in order to remember it. It's scientific nothing you, or I , or the students can do about it. That's why a closure is good - it gives them time to continue working with the material.

In the same vein, classes should have openers too - journal questions that deal with what is going to be done, predictions about things, etc. We all need to be in a mind set to understand something. Think about the person you know you know but don't recognize in the grocery store. Later you see that person, where you always see them, at the post office and realize that you saw them at the grocery store. ANYTHING out of context doesn't make sense. It's our brain, it likes the world in nice neat order so it can understand things... We, as teachers, need to put the "world" in order for our students. Get them ready for what they are going to do and wrap up what they've done!

[Unregistered]

I'm a student teacher from Australia and have to write a unit plan for my final practicum - scary stuff! The information on this thread has helped me enormously because I always struggle to find ways to end lessons other than 'discussion'.

[Unregistered]

Lesson closure could take on various formal or informal forms. Some ideas include: exit tickets for each student to fill out, randomly calling on several students to review the content, having students complete a think-pair-share, or even having students complete a post-it note and attach it to the white-board on the way out.

[Unregistered]

I do a "two minute drill" at the end of class. If you have a computer with a projector you can download (X-stopwatch). I give the students two minutes at the end of class to write down two important ideas that they learned in class that day. The timer is great, you can display it on the whole screen so the students are working frantically to beat the clock.

[renninkim]

Though the move is disappointing for 200 students and families who are suddenly without a school, board members made the right decision. Given the program's long history of financial and management troubles, the district probably should have taken action sooner.

================
kimrennin
white hat seo (http://www.drivenwide.com)

[Liane]

Actually, I think the good thing about a "good closure" is that it doesn't matter what your lesson was....With that said here are some ideas:
* 3-2-1: Give each student an index card. Have them write 3 things they found interesting about today's class, 2 things they learned and one thing they still have a question about.

* Class summary: Have each student write one paragraph about what the class was about.

* Timeline: (I teach English and use this with stories, but I image you could use it with History) Ask the students to plot out the events that you talked aobut in class (I focus on the events in a plot graph - introduction, conflict, rising action, etc., but you could do it by either date, or inciting action, next event, etc.)

* Fishbowl: You may have heard of this and even used it in class, but it's also a great way to wrap up class time. Every student writes down a question about the lesson that they have. They then form 2 circles an outside one and an inside one with each circle facing the other. Students then ask their question of the person in front of them. After a few minutes switch it up "everyone on the inside circle rotate left 3 people" , and again. To finish the activity have the students go back to their seats and write a summary of what they learned about their question and hand it in.

All these activities do a couple of things:
1. They allow the studnet to actively think about what happened in class helping them to be reflective learners, and
2. It allows you to assess what they got and what they didn't get and what you need to review before moving on.

Just to let you know there are tons of ideas out there - go on to the web and surf.

I hope these were helpful! Good luck - have fun!

Thanks for taking the time to write all that - best response yet!

In my ESL class, when I work on a particular skill, I like to close by having students use that skill. So if our objective for the class was for the students to learn how to greet each other, I might have them say a greeting to each other to end the class. In Social Studies, you might have the kids rattle off a fact they got from the lesson, or have them give an answer to the objective of the day (if your objective was in question form).

Out of curiousity, which ideas have you tried so far, and how have they worked for you?

__________________
ESL Teacher and Yoga Instructor Liane Carmi has joined with Jay Kubassek of Carbon Copy PRO in his mission to create 100 millionaires by 2012. For information on how you can be part of this opportunity log on to http://better-educated.com (http://better-educated.com?t=teachnology)

[Unregistered]

just want to thank this thread
I'm writing a lesson plan to apply for an internship and I had no clue how to do a closure. Thank you for all of your ideas! It really helped me develop a good closure, I just hope I can make the internship...