As a first-year teacher, I thought entry tasks had one primary purpose: to keep the students quiet and occupied long enough for me to take attendance. During my first two years of teaching, I tended to assign a lot of simple, skills-based activities as entry tasks. I was an English teacher, so my students typically had grammar or vocabulary exercises during the first five minutes of class. However, as I observed other teachers through my STAR training and grew stronger in my own instructional practices, I began to look for ways to raise the level of thinking and application in my lessons. As my lessons began to demand more from my students, so too, did my entry tasks. Although I still started one or two lessons a week with skills-based practice (there is always a place for that!), I began to focus more on activities that asked my students to think critically and to make connections from the moment the bell rang. Here were three of my favorite entry tasks.
1. Journal Entries
Journal entries are gold for an English teacher. They give the students a chance to reflect on the themes they have encountered in their readings and to connect them to their own lives. For instance, while reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I asked my students whether or not they had ever questioned any of their parents’ beliefs. During an oral history unit, I asked them to think about a gifted storyteller from their own lives (several students named grandparents or other relatives) and to explain what made this person’s stories engaging. As we started The Crucible, I asked them to reflect on a time they felt they or someone they knew was being unfairly targeted. Afterwards, I would give them a chance to discuss their answers in think-pair-shares, and we would discuss the themes that emerged as a class before I explained how they tied into that day’s learning objective.
Although journaling is an especially strong fit for English classes, it can also be a powerful tactic in other content areas. A biology teacher, for example, could ask students to describe the ecosystem near their home or to reflect on whether or not they look like their parents. A social studies teacher could ask students for their opinions on current events or whether or not they would want to live in the historical period the class was studying. A math teacher could ask students to think about a time they will need to use math in their adult lives. Journal entries are quick to write and easy to grade (I asked my students for a minimum of five sentences, and graded them only on length), but they can be a great tool for asking students to connect their learning to their lives.
Although journaling is an especially strong fit for English classes, it can also be a powerful tactic in other content areas. A biology teacher, for example, could ask students to describe the ecosystem near their home or to reflect on whether or not they look like their parents. A social studies teacher could ask students for their opinions on current events or whether or not they would want to live in the historical period the class was studying. A math teacher could ask students to think about a time they will need to use math in their adult lives. Journal entries are quick to write and easy to grade (I asked my students for a minimum of five sentences, and graded them only on length), but they can be a great tool for asking students to connect their learning to their lives.
2. Concept Circles
I picked up Concept Circles from watching one of my colleagues during a learning walk. She was a health teacher, but I could immediately see how the tool could transfer to my English class. Concept Circles are powerful graphic organizers that ask students to explain connections between different concepts. For a typical entry task, I would write the title of a reading on the board. Underneath it, I would draw a circle and divide it into four quarters. Each quarter would have a concept in it. The students’ job was to write a paragraph explaining how each concept connected to the reading. For Romeo and Juliet, for example, I might list: love, family, youth, and enmity. A math teacher might list something like: hypotenuse, right triangle, length, and Pythagorean Theorem. In any subject, Concept Circles are a great way to check for understanding and to practice vocabulary.
There are a number of other ways teachers can use Concept Circles to check for understanding, offer vocabulary practice, and encourage students to make connections. The resource I linked to above has a number of different ideas, which can be adapted to several grade levels and subjects.
There are a number of other ways teachers can use Concept Circles to check for understanding, offer vocabulary practice, and encourage students to make connections. The resource I linked to above has a number of different ideas, which can be adapted to several grade levels and subjects.
3. Higher-Order Vocabulary Practice
Because I had large numbers of English language learners in my classes, I always focused a lot on vocabulary. However, the vocabulary exercises in my textbooks tended to be entirely recall-based, and made it too easy for students to guess the answers. I could ask students to come up with their own sentences using the vocabulary words, but most of them tended to use the word incorrectly when left to their own devices. They needed more guidance in how to use each word. My instructional coach showed me a solution: I could still use the old fill-in-the-blank vocabulary exercises, but in a way that forced students to really think about the word’s meaning and to make connections. Consider the following two sentence completion activities, both focusing on the vocabulary word digress.
Of course, there are many ways for teachers to begin a lesson with thinking and relevancy. These are just three I found successful in my own classroom. I would love to hear current teachers share some of their favorite entry tasks that increase relevancy and thinking!
- It’s easy to make my teacher ________ from the day’s lesson.
- Mr./Ms. ________ might digress from the day’s lesson if somebody mentions _________.
Of course, there are many ways for teachers to begin a lesson with thinking and relevancy. These are just three I found successful in my own classroom. I would love to hear current teachers share some of their favorite entry tasks that increase relevancy and thinking!
Interested in learning other ways to raise thinking and application?
Mindy Jones, B.A. Research Associate
Mindy Jones has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a Residency Teaching Certificate from Western Washington University, with extensive coursework in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. She taught English for four years at Wapato High School, where she first received training in the STAR Protocol. As a high-school teacher, Mindy experienced first-hand the benefits of Powerful Teaching and Learning (PTL) in the classroom. Student learning and engagement increased dramatically when she began incorporating elements of PTL into her classroom planning and instruction. She joined the BERC Group in 2012 and is excited to contribute to the research that can have such a beneficial impact on student learning.
