Engaging Bellringers
Students come into class and then they sit, sit, sit, listen, and take notes. How completely and utterly exhausting! Honestly, I've seen way too many classes conducted like this and way too many students who seem bored off the edge of their seats waiting for any excuse to escape. How do we keep up student engagement while assuring that they are getting the information? We get creative and one of the best ways has been through bellringers.
Post-It method
I love post-its. They stick to posters, white-boards, and just about anything you could think of. They are cheap, brightly colored, and have a limited amount of space. This method of bellringer is simple, you post a question on the board, give each student a post it to write the answer on, and then have them write an answer on it ( I typically make them write their name on the back- just because some students like to feel they don't need to participate). After they write an answer on the post it have them get up out of their seat, walk up to the board, and post it. If you want something a little more you can draw a graphic organizer and have the students post their answers on the graphic organizer. Questions should be board enough to where the students can come up with a variety of right answers such as give me an example of a hyperbole or idiom, or oxymoron. It works well for any literary device but may be used subjects other then English such as have the students write an example of a particular type of equation in math, or list examples of different types of ecosystems in science. Really the sky is the limit with this one. Just make sure to only allow a certain amount of time for students to complete the task, and go over the answers the students came up with as a class. It helps students catch their mistakes, and gives the instructor an idea of how well the student mastered a given topic.
Have them exchange papers- Musical Chairs Style
Students seem to care more what their classmates and friends have to say then their teachers and parents. At least many of the ones I've met do. So, why not have their classmates read what they wrote. A brief bellringer of a question, journal entry, or a problem displayed and having the students write the answer is simple enough. When an instructor asks students to share you often get the same students who wish to share every class while others are too shy or too worried about what they wrote to ever share with anyone. For this exercise after students write down their answer to the bellringer have them get up out of their seats, explain to them you will play music for a brief period of time in which they are to move around the classroom. Once the music stops they are suppose to exchange papers with the person closest to them. This way all students get to share what they've written with at least one other person. You may also ask if anyone got an interesting paper that they've read that they would like to share with the class. I often like to do this at least two times.
Snowball Activity
Who doesn't love a snowball fight? This is a fun activity but depending on the size of a class or how well the teacher has classroom management skills depends on if you should try it. Snowball is an easy and fun activity for students. First they write their answer to the bellringer, next split the class into two groups each on an opposite side of the classroom, then instruct them to take their bellringer and crumple it into a snowball (a paper ball), instruct them to throw their snowball to a student on the opposing side, and last the other student is expected to pick up the snowball, uncrumple it and read it. This is a fun activity, but again requires that the teacher have excellent classroom management.Anymore fun bellringer ideas? Let us know. Personally, I hate to be bored and I imagine my students do to. Getting out of their seats, even for a brief period of time helps them wake up, stay engaged, and be ready for the next activity.
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