Lesson Starters
Every week I try and write up to date news accounts of what is going on in teaching at the moment or offer helpful hints and tips to NQTs and others new to teaching. I get a lot of inspiration from TES website and other up to the minute websites to ensure that all of the information that is given is current and not teaching tips from the dark ages. This week I am focussing on lesson starters.
Lesson starters are an important way to begin a lesson… Why?
Starters are what kick start a lesson before you get into your main content of the lesson. Having a bad starter doesn’t set you up well for your main section (the topic), so it’s always good to begin with something quite light hearted and easy going, ready to ease your students into what it is you actually want them to learn about. Avoiding having a bad starter isn’t too difficult really, it just involves a little bit of planning!
Firstly, you want to make sure that your starter relates to what it is you are teaching as your main lesson plan. I.e., you don’t want to do a starter on maths equations and then break out into a music lesson. Equally within a subject, starting a lesson with a clapping game and following directly after with reading about classical composers… the two parts (although both musical) do not fit together. The children will be confused and it just will not make sense. Beginning a lesson with a lead into what you are going to teach will prepare the children for what is coming up and get them in the right frameset of mind.
Secondly, make sure your starter is in pace with what it is you are leading into. By this I mean, if you have a starter that gets the children all hyperactive and excited and the main core of your lesson is a writing project or something calming, you now have to deal with 30 restless children. On the contrary, if you start off with an exercise that will chill the children out and then go straight into something practical, it might not work. So it is best to try and link introduction and main together.
Always make your starters are engaging so that everyone can join in. You want all of your children to be switched on when it comes to delivering your main content. You’re your starters relatively simple as you don’t want to lose the plot before you have even begun, and always try to make a starter fun in some way.
I will leave you with a link to some helpful tips from TES website.
Andy T
https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-views/my-five-favourite-ways-get-a-lesson-started