- ATTENDANCE QUESTION
After being a frequent star on the naughty list for not taking attendance a few years ago, I had no choice but to build attendance into the daily lesson. Enter the attendance question. The first thing I do in class every day is go through the roll (for me that means having Infinite Campus attendance roster pulled up), call each name, and pose a question for the day for students to answer. There are so many things about this quick fix to keep me out of trouble that I didn’t expect: each student hears me say their name daily thus making it hard to remain unseen, every student speaks each day in my class a small step for many to build confidence for speaking up, and we build class community by hearing each other’s answers. Questions cover a variety of topics: seasonal things (what will you do with your extra hour of daylight), which wallpaper do you prefer (we’re currently reading “The Yellow Wallpaper”), or tell me something good – big or small – Monday question. Check out more questions which will be the first slide on each day’s lesson found here: Barber Calendar 2024 – 2025.
- FOCUS SKILL
After I take attendance, the next thing I always do is give a 30 second preview of what skill we will be working on that day. Since I teach all AP Lit, we reference this chart from the Course and Exam Description daily. Yesterday in our continued work with “The Yellow Wallpaper,” I pointed out to students that we would be centering our work on contrasting characters, setting, and narrator’s perspective and unreliability. The quick daily check on this chart (or course or state standards) gives us a shared vocabulary that we’re always referring to and helps students see how the daily lessons fit are situated in the broader course.
- CHORAL READING OF A TEXT
Get every student all in from the very beginning by reading the text for the day (or a portion of it) chorally. We often read poems together as a whole class – that’s correct – every student reading every work at the same time. Or students can read as a class or in small groups for longer texts changing readers at each hard stop (period, question mark, exclamation, semi-colon, etc.). One of my missions is to bring more reading aloud back into the classroom, and the beginning of class is the perfect time for it.
- RAPID REVIEW
When you teach anything long enough, it is easy to forget how much you internalize. What is familiar for you is foreign to your students. It is their first exposure to material and what you take for granted take time for them to understand. One of the best ways to build confidence and competency is to do a quick 3-5 minute cold call review at the start of the period. It grounds students in common knowledge. It establishes key facts and concepts that can be scaffolded for higher understanding later. It lends a helping hand to students that are confused or uncertain. These are not gotcha questions. They are simple and factual. Many of the questions repeat day after day. I stay in this lane because I want to establish a baseline of understanding. Here’s an example of what it looks like in my class when we finished the first chapter of The Great Gatsby:
Me: Charlie, who is our narrator in The Great Gatsby?
Charlie: Nick
Me: Bella, what is Nick’s last name?
Bella: Carraway
Me: John, what business is he studying and trying to break into on the east coast?
John: Bonds
Me: Nick, I know he is working in New York City. But where does Nick Carraway reside?
Nick: Out on Long Island, in one of the Eggs.
I also use the same rapid review method to ensure my students know what a big end-of-the-year exam will look like.
Me: Ashlyn, how many multiple-choice questions are on the AP Literature exam?
Ashlyn: Umm… 55.
Me: Yes. And Matt, how many essays will you write on Part II?
Matt: 3
Me: Mirabella, what is the focus for the first essay?
Mirabella: Poetry
Me: Right. And Sean, how many minutes should you budget for that first essay?
Sean: 40
Etc.
- DAILY 1/2 DOZEN
I start my semester-long Creative Writing class with a daily ½ dozen each day. It is simple. It is creative. It challenges students to think beyond the familiar. They must list six things in six minutes. For example, one daily ½ dozen asks students to list six nostalgic smells that are slightly unexpected. Answers often include a leather shop, fresh-cut grass, a doctor’s office, gasoline, garlic frying in oil, and new-car smell. Another daily ½ dozen will ask students to create six similes for blue eyes. Everyone uses the most obvious two, which are “her eyes were blue like the ocean” and “his eyes were blue like the sky” but the next four really challenge their creativity. It establishes a fun environment at the beginning of class and is a great way to build a classroom culture the is centered on creativity and participation.
You can download my slides for the daily ½ dozen for FREE here.
- MINI SERMON
Students need clarity on the value and benefit of what they are learning, otherwise their education becomes a transactional pursuit of grades. The mini sermon is the most direct approach I’ve discovered to convey that value and benefit. It can be as short as 60 seconds or as long as three minutes, but its goal is to offer students a vision of who they can become if they master the learning goals. If you want to start class with a mini sermon, a simple formula for getting started looks like this:
- Yesterday we worked on ___________________. This material is important because ______________. Mastering this skill can help you ____________.
Here’s what it looked like in my class this week:
- “Yesterday I taught you about the piano scene in Hillary Jordan’s Mudbound, in which Laura transforms from a meek character into one that is in awe of her latent strength. Understanding this scene helps you recognize that the piano isn’t just a piano, you can see it as a symbol of something much more powerful. It represents culture, a shred of dignity, hope for the future, and a power struggle that plays out along gender lines. Mastering this skill allows you to recognize that objects, actions, and ideas in our life often take on greater personal significance when we assign a value or meaning beyond its literal existence. This enriches our lives, empowering us to see associations and representations that shift meaning to a deeper and more significant level. Think about how this operates in marketing. A brand like Apple doesn’t just represent a line of products, it becomes a deeply embedded symbol in our collective consciousness of values and intentions.”
- M.U.G. SHOT
M.U.G. stand for:
M–echanics
U–sage
G–rammar
I use these in my English 11 class each day during the first quarter. In each shot, there are two sentences with a plethora of errors that need to be corrected. I love to call one student to the board to make one correction, then on their way back to their seat they get fist bumps from everyone in their row or vicinity. Kids eat it up.
Here’s an example:
- FASCINATING FACT
Did you know that James Joyce was terrified of dogs and thunderstorms? Or, Richard Blanco was the youngest, the first immigrant, the first Latino, and the first openly gay poet to be selected to be the Inaugural poet? When I am in a poetry or short story unit, I like to start class by either presenting a fun fact each day, or asking the students to do the research and find five interesting facts about the writer in five minutes.
Another way to develop this interest is by highlighting author birthdays. Whether this is monthly, weekly, or daily, starting class with a shoutout to authors is a great way to introduce students to a wide variety of writers, works, and genres. One of the most common complaints among English teachers is that we don’t have enough time to introduce our students to all of the writers and works that we love. This opens their eyes to a broader spectrum of literature. You can find a full list of author birthdays here.
- ONE THING TO KEEP IN MIND
On writing days, we start class with every student giving a reminder for good writing. Students cannot repeat what someone before them has already shared. Typical answers include embedding evidence, use a variety of sentences, providing at least two pieces of evidence per claim, analysis – not summary, etc. Sometimes I will narrow the focus like this example where each student shared a transition word as we were working on progression of ideas.
- CELEBRATE NATIONAL DAYS
For a more quirky and completely unrelated to anything instructional way to start class, draw attention to daily national holidays. There are some really fun and odd days to celebrate. We just celebrated National Grammar Day (March 4th) in class this past week. I’m writing this on National Proofreading Day (March 8th) which is funny because I’m sure there will be mistakes in here. (Side note: does anyone else have the dilemma that I do that people assume you’re a good proofreader because you’re an English teacher? I digress . . . ) You can find a full list of national holidays at NationalDayCalendar.
Brian (a high school teacher and basketball coach on Long Island) and Susan (a high school teacher in Atlanta) met on Twitter (#rip) over a decade ago and became fast friends bonding over teaching literature, building classroom culture, and the importance of a good cup of coffee. Their book, 100% Engagement: 33 Lessons to Promote Participation, Beat Boredom, and Deepen Learning in the ELA Classroom, is forthcoming from Corwin in May.
