Plan for Student Arrival

Communicate what students need to do as soon as they arrive. List on the board the

required materials that students will need to get out and place on their desks before the day begins.

Post a warm-up activity that the students will do during the first

few minutes of the day.

Keep Track of Time

A small, portable digital timer is an effective tool for keeping track of time during a lesson or activity. You may also want to use an online count up or down visual timer is you have a computer/projector.

Quicktime Timers: http://www.teachersworkroom.org/Timers.html

or Online Timer: http://www.online-stopwatch.com/

For example, you could set the timer for five minutes as the students complete a warm-up

activity. Then, give your instruction for the day and set the timer for the amount of time left

for students to work independently (the amount of time left in the period minus five or ten

minutes for the closure activity and clean up).

Quick Check For Understanding

Be sure to take quick checks for understanding throughout a lesson or activity. Make adjustments as necessary. Quick checks could be thumbs up/thumbs down, red, yellow, green stoplight, think-pair-share, value line ups, quick writes, and non-verbal cues to name a few strategies.

Maximize the First Five Minutes

Have students participate in an independent warm-up activity as you work through daily

procedures. A warm-up activity usually involves journaling or solving a problem of

the day. By engaging students in an independent activity, you are freeing yourself to take roll

and deal tardy students, parents that pop in, collecting homework, etc...

Plan for Classroom Transitions

Prepare your students for classroom transitions before they occur. Let students know up

front how much time they have to work on a task in class. Watch your time carefully and let

them know throughout the task how much time they still have. Transitions are far smoother

when students can anticipate the change and know the time constraints they are under.

Making Up Work When Absent

Label a large envelope or folder with the absent student’s name and “Make-Up Work”. Place the envelope or folder on the absent student’s desk or a special area in the room. When papers/materials are handed out, have a student place a copy in the folder/envelope. Don’t forget to include a list of any other assignments the student needs to do. You may want to assign a student to help you with making sure everything is placed in the absent student’s folder or envelope.

Use the Last Five or Ten Minutes

Have students participate in a closure activity and clean up at the end of a activity/subject/project. Let

volunteers share what they learned or read examples of their work. Collect any instructional

materials the students might have used. Next, collect in-class work or have students place it

in their notebooks, depending on whether the work is complete. For students who do not

finish an assignment at the same time as the majority of the class, have a procedure for completing the work as homework. You may want to delay telling students their work can be

completed as homework until the end of class in order to keep them on task. Don’t for get to assign homework, if necessary.

Have students fill out an Exit Ticket. The exit ticket could include them writing or telling you something you learned, something they already knew, something they might need a little help with, or any other questions.