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Volume 11 | Issue 2 | September 24, 2015
"Call me Ishmael." "You better not never tell nobody but God." "Here is a weird one for you." These first lines from Melville, Walker, and Foster Wallace pull in the reader and point to what to watch for in the coming pages. As teachers, you want lessons that hook students like a book they can't put down, but you also want them to walk away from class able to clarify and organize what they just learned. From engagement to enlightenment, here's how to open and close lessons.
Jennifer LaDuke
How can you help students take a moment to switch gears, while maximizing instructional time?
Craig Simmons
Tips for designing creative introductions that instantly engage students in an intriguing topic or problem.
Ashley Ireland Dann
Watch a 1st grade teacher frame a lesson by communicating the learning goals, engaging students in the essential question, connecting learning to the big ideas of the unit, reviewing the agenda, and activating students' prior knowledge. He closes by revisiting the objective and essential question, and guiding students to reflect on their learning.
Joshua Curnett
A veteran teacher finds that a respectful and appreciative class culture helps teachers develop great beginnings and cohesive closings for their lessons.
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