3 Simple Steps to the Best Bellringers : Stop wasting your students' time

I am allergic to wasting time. Your students are too. For generations, teachers have used bellringer work to encourage their students to come into class, get prepared, be quiet, and do something productive that lets them take role. Are these bad things? No. But is your bellringer work actually benefiting the students besides teaching a vague sense of responsibility at the beginning of class? Also, no. Below I will outline a shockingly simple method to make your seat work more effective as a formative assessment that will actually benefit your students as well as informing your pacing.

First, you need to create the culture of getting the students up and running as they come into the class. I know it sounded a little tongue in cheek above. I do want them to have better responsibility. I do need time to take role. But the GOAL of this work is not to accomplish those things. The goal of bellringer work is to inform the students and inform you. It is the most basic of formative assessments. And done correctly, this method will lead you to become a better teacher. It consists of three questions:

1. Past

2. Present

3. Future

Past

This is the trap that most teachers fall into. They only ask questions about yesterday. It could sound something like this:

The problem with only asking questions about yesterday is that the answers are in their notes from yesterday. They clumsily look back, read what they wrote, and half-heartedly scribble it down today. Kids can sense a waste of time. Regurgitation reeks of it. Do we need to analyze if they internalized yesterday's information? Absolutely! Is that the only goal of bell work? No way! If I am going to take the time in class to have them actually produce written answers, then it had better inform the student as well as the teacher.

Every time a student answers question number 1, they had better be confident of their answer. This should be a breeze. And here is where some teachers fall into a trap. They communicate, whether literally or not, that all questions are equal in value. They are not. Don't sit like the Great Oz behind the curtain. Tell them exactly what you are doing. Tell them that if they are struggling to answer question #1 every day, then there is a problem that we need to solve together. Now. It can't wait until the test.

If they are missing question #1, meet them at lunch, give them extra help, ask them why they are confused. Allow that interaction with the struggling student to inform your teaching. Are you hearing the same comments from multiple kids? Then fix the problem. Did you communicate poorly? Then there are other kids that also didn't understand.

The key to question #1 is ensuring that they are ready to move on to today. If a large number of students aren't ready for today, then change what today is all about.

Present

There is a fine art to creating questions about today, without the students feeling like you are asking about tomorrow. Let me explain. In question #2, you need to ask a question that has its roots in question #1 but leads to the application that you are teaching today. I teach a lot of chemistry. I am blessed that the content builds very vertically and yesterday IS the foundation of today. Create a question that allows them to recognize the content from yesterday which builds confidence, and then asks them for a new (untaught) application that you will teach today.

Crafting a Present question also informs your pacing. If no students can make the connection to today's content, then maybe their understanding of yesterday was limited. Circle back. Build their confidence. Show them, literally, the parts that they should be able to do from yesterday. Reteach if necessary.

If students are really getting question #2 at a high rate, then speed up your pace! I love it when this happens. A high success rate suggests that you have created the culture of striving in your class. They are becoming accustomed to anticipation. They are getting good at application.

Asking an effective question #2 will allow you to reference seamlessly into your lecture. They can see what today is about. They already thought about it. Even if they were wrong, their minds have been hauled out of the fog of yesterday into the clarity of today.

Future

This question is the carrot. It is the one out at the end of the stick that keeps their eyes from focusing on the rocks in the path. By asking a future question, you will encourage guessing. You will create a sense that they really have to lean on what they know from yesterday and will learn today. There is a greater thing coming.

Crafting a good future question needs to focus more on application and less on calculation. If you walk up to an Algebra 1 student and ask them to find the focus of a particular quadratic equation, they will stare at you. They don't know where to start. They thought focus was a skill not an answer. Quadratic equations sound hard. I give up. Instead ask them to guess at the application of new information. What could be done with these new skills? Why do those guys at NFL games have the big clear bubble microphones? Why are the mics at a particular place? Create a sense of wonder. Can I actually figure that out? Will I ever be able to do that?

It is only a rare occasion that I even talk about the ANSWER to question #3. I almost always answer it with more questions. I want them wondering about the future. I want them measuring what they currently know. The answers will become evident as we go through the next few days. Then you can refer back to the question. Then they can feel that sense of accomplishment.

The future question is a great place to weave in your story lines that carry you through your lessons. Future questions are a great place to be outside the box. They are a great place to create excitement.

At the beginning of every class, students are starting with yesterday, building today, and looking to tomorrow. That is what I call academic momentum. And isn't it a better use of five minutes at the beginning of class to build academic momentum than it is to keep them quiet so you can remember your password to take role?

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