Classroom Wrap Up Ideas
Opening your lesson is always important to focus your students for class. And a good wrap up activity is great for summarizing and closing your lesson.
Early on in my teaching career, I focused on teaching ‘coast to coast’, right up until the end of the hour. Often my lessons ran until the bitter end, with students scrambling to pack up and rushing to their next class. Later on (as I got better) I began using wrap ups to close the lesson, summarize what the students learned, and provide a launching pad to the next day’s lesson.
In English class, for example, the students will often complete short writing assignments as ‘tickets out the door’. I’ve included a few short prompts at the end of this article that you can use (or feel free to adapt) in your own class. Some prompts take the form of short paragraphs, some are in the form of a quiz designed by the kids, and we even have some that are in a creative writing style.
Wrap-ups can take many forms. There are some teachers who simply ask questions of the class before students are released. If a student answers correctly, that student is allowed to pack up and perhaps even leave (depending on your school’s policies). After a few questions, allow the remainder of the students to go on the next correct answer. You can take volunteers for the answers or use a random choice technique (click here to see the article from our January #1 2006 issue).
Other teachers choose to have students write before they leave. Short writing prompts are great. These should only last a few minutes, and be easy for you to grade/correct/take credit if you choose to. An easy way to check the writing is by length – a certain number of required words or lines. Some writings take the form of answers to questions, so you can check the number of correct responses. Another powerful way is to have students create their own questions in the form of short quizzes. Students can make up true/false, multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks, short answer, or other types of quizzes. Always have students include the answers.
There are even games you can play with your students as wrap ups. Some store-bought games can easily be adapted and fit to your classroom. Simply change the game data by inserting your own questions and class curricular information. You might even create and develop your own games to play in class. As always, remember to factor time into your activity. You’ll be able to get to only a few students in the time you have, so create a plan to randomly choose students or keep track of who has already participated. That way every student has an equal opportunity to participate.
Wrap-ups can be easy to design and implement in your class. And your students can have fun too using their creativity. The teacher must make a commitment to doing these every day. Then the procedure is in place for students and teacher alike. Wrap-ups are great for reviewing class material not only that day but over past classes. And they make an excellent transition to the next class.
Be sure to check out our website for more great information, tips, and techniques for new teachers, student-teachers, and interns in teacher prep programs.
