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Endings…. for your lessons

Colleen Young

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What makes a good ending to a lesson?

Haveyouplannedtheendofyourlessonto:

Helpyouconfirmthatlearninghastakenplace?

Identifyanymisconceptions?

Helpyoudecidewhatyouandyourstudentsneedtodo

next?

What was important?

What do you want to stick?

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On the following slides, images and/or text provide hyperlinks to the resources

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Contents

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Planforlessonendingsthatwillhelpyouassesswhatyourstudentshavelearned.Theideasandresourcesherewillhopefullyhelpyoudojustthat.

5 8 9 10page page page page page

11 12 13 14 15page page page page page

What makes a good lesson ending?

Resources Vocabulary Questions – Resources

Mini-Tests(Self-Checks)

Here’s the diagram…What’s the question?

Spot the Mistake HomeworkHints and Resources

Over to the students

Endings as beginnings

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Essex Maths Team50 Ideas& 50 More

4 Summarise topic in 5 sentences – reduce to

5 words – reduce to one word

5 60 second challenge – sum up knowledge of

text, or write down all the words you can think

of to describe…

18 Take one minute to compose two

statements in your head to explain what we

have learnt and how we have learnt it

See 50 Ideas for Plenaries – Essex Maths team and 

Another 50 ideas for plenaries

Contents

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The Plenary ProducerMike Gershon

4 Summarise topic in 5 sentences – reduce to

5 words – reduce to one word

5 60 second challenge – sum up knowledge of

text, or write down all the words you can think

of to describe…

18 Take one minute to compose two

statements in your head to explain what we

have learnt and how we have learnt it

On TES Resources

The Plenary Producer

130 suggestions for any subject!

Contents

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TES ResourcesExit Tickets

TeachIt Maths (allpdfsarefreeifyouregisterforthissite)havea collection of starters and plenaries.

Contents

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Vocabulary

Sum up the key notation and vocabulary from the lesson.

Contents

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Questions

DiagnosticQuestionsfromCraigBarton

andSimonWoodheadareexcellentas

notonlydotheyallowyoutocheck

learning,theycanalsoreveal

misconceptions.

Whynotaskthestudentstowritetheir

owndiagnosticquestion?

DavidWatkinshasprovidedan

extensive,easilysearchablecollection

ofExcelMathematicsworksheetson 

dynamicmaths.co.uk.Theseworksheets

canbecustomisedtosuitaparticular

class.Aswellasaclassactivity,these

couldmakeexcellent startersor

plenaries,

Contents

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Mini-Tests

Tryinganexamquestionandthenchecking/

discussingthemarkschemecanbeaveryappropriate

lessonending.Oryoumightwanttohaveaslightly

longerending,withtheallimportantideaofmaking things stick andgivethema mini-test

. Reading Make it Stick (TheScienceofSuccessful

Learning)whichdiscussestheuseoftestingasa

learningtoolconvincesmeevenmorethat mini-tests

 areagoodidea!Studentsneedtorecallinformation

andtheevidencesuggeststhattestingisabetterway

ofdoingthisthansimplyrereadingmaterial,amethod

oftenfavouredbystudents.Studentslikethealternative

name‘Self-checks’whichIhopehelpsthemrealise

theyareastheauthorssuggestalearning tool, not something to be stressed by.

“exercise in

repeatedly

recalling a thing

strengthens the

memory.”

Aristotle

Making it stick

Contents

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Here’s the diagram……

Haveyouplannedtheendofyourlessonto:

Helpyouconfirmthatlearninghastakenplace?

Identifyanymisconceptions?

Provideadiagram,studentswriteaquestion

…andamarkscheme.

Furtherresources

What‘s the question?

Contents

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Spot the Mistake

Agreatwaytogetstudentsthinkingaboutmistakes

and misconceptions andhencedeepentheir

understandingoftopicsistohavethemmarkthework

ofothers.Therearesomegreatresourceshosted

on TES.

SpottheMistakeResources

MisconceptionsinMathematics

Can your students identify common errors?

Contents

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Homework

Youmaywanttousetheendofalesson

tomakesurestudentsareclearontheir

homeworktaskortasks.Youcould

perhapsletthemstarthomework.

Whynotshowthemanyresourcessuch

asWolframAlphaortheDesmos

Graphingcalculatororperhapssomeof

theothercalculatorsheretheycould

usetochecktheirwork?

Contents

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Over to the students

Perhapshandovertoastudentorstudentsto

summarisethemainpointsofthelesson.Thiscouldbe

plannedaheadifyouwish.

Foranovelplenary–planaheadwithastudent–let

themknowtheywillbegivingavoteofthanksforthe

lesson!Thiscanincludewhathasbeenlearnedand

refertoanymembersoftheclass,perhapscomment

onsomeonewhoaskedagreatquestionforexample.

Thiscanworkreallywellandthelessonmaywellend

witheverybodyclapping!

Thank You!

Contents

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Endings as beginnings

Whynotendthelessonbyexplainingwhatyouwish

themtostartworkingontheminutetheycomeintothe

roomforthenextlesson.

Onthesubjectofcalmstartstolessons

..seeBellWork

Andsomanystartersalsomakegoodendings!

What next?

Contents

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Colleen Young

https://twitter.com/ColleenYoung

Mathematics, Learning & Technology

Mathematics for Students