Why do we try to end lessons on a high? Because of the recency effect: we hope that students will remember that cool and punchy activity and then somehow retain the rest of the lesson. This article from Edutopia offers an excellent collection of activities to do at the end of a lesson and create (surprise) a stronger sense of progress. My favourite by far are snowstorm and the elevator pitch (though I probably use exit tickets and ‘so what’ the most). And yours?
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Reblogged this on So, You Think You Can Teach ESL? and commented:
I can only hope my students remember what they’ve learnt in my class. If they can’t remember the vocabulary words or grammar, at least I hope they remember the fun we had.
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Thanks for reblogging! But I’m not quite with you on the fun thing – not sure if lessons should be ‘fun’ as such, I’d rather they made some progress!
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Why not both? I think learning should be fun. But if you disagree that’s great!
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It’s not that I totally disagree, but have you read this? 🙂 https://ielt18.innovateevents.com/blog/plenary-do-students-really-want-fun-in-the-elt-classroom/
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I haven’t but I should. Thanks for linking it.
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I am at a stage where I have to work on making the reflection stage of my lessons more engaging and this article will positively help! I definitely like ‘So what?’ and ‘Exit folder’ activity.
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Hi Mike, glad to know you’ve found it helpful! Let me know how the activities work if you decide to experiment – I’m definitely going to try out a few new ones myself.
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