Yes to Success in the Classroom with a Bellringer

It gives your students purpose immediately as they enter the classroom. Also, you can use it to review concepts learned the previous day. It will even work to connect to new concepts you need them to learn today. Furthermore, you can use it for grouping, remediation, enrichment, and more. Bellringers are a daily procedure that we, as teachers, should not go without. You can say yes to success with a bellringer!

I call my bellringer the START. It simply stands for Scientific Thinking And Reasoning Time. It's our bellwork. And, you know what bellwork is right?  It is something that your students do as they enter the classroom, allowing the teacher to maximize instructional time. Bellwork, for us, is a non-negotiable!

Although we've used bellringers since year-1 in the classroom, how we use it has changed several times. Consider the changes like an experiment. We tried one way, make improvements, and then tried another. We've finally found something we love!

In the beginning, we titled the bell-work "Bellringer" and we simply gave instructions for the students. Maybe we wanted them to get ready to take some notes, set up for an activity, move the desks, or pass back graded papers. We told them that information in the directions. The directions could get lengthy however, and that was a problem. Many of our students didn't, and still don't, like to read. We found that many would skip important parts of the instructions and they were not doing exactly what we needed them to do, which defeated the purpose.

We also tried having them copy down in their notebook learning objectives and essential questions. But, they would just copy. If we asked the students what we were going to learn about that day, many couldn't tell us until after we told them verbally in a discussion. The copying wasn't working. We tried multiple-choice questions as a way to prepare for end of the year testing. The problem with this scenario was that many students wouldn't copy the whole thing or perhaps just the letter of the answer. But, how does this help them? We shortened the answer choices and included simple directions for after answering the questions. But, it turned out to be way too much! They needed to be given one thing to do at a time.

It seemed like most teachers were using the term bellringer so we tried changing the name to establish a connection. We named it Do Now, Warm Up, and even Jump Start. But these names didn't help them connect. These names didn't mean anything to the kids. They were just name changes for something the students were already familiar with. Finally, we changed Jump Start to START which stood for two different things. It literally meant start, to begin.  But, we also made it apply to our classroom.

We shared the idea that when they enter the classroom, it was time to start thinking about science. It was scientific thinking and reasoning time. Who would have thought that taking a simple word and making it an acronym about our expectations would have worked? It did. It connected. The students started using it. They started talking about it with each other. Now, just like the classroom, it was ours. So, how can you use a bellringer to say yes to success in the classroom?

Say Yes to Success with a Bellringer by Naming It

The name of your bellringer doesn't have to be a word. It doesn't even have to be an acronym. Your bellringer needs to be something that fits you as the teacher, your students, and your classroom environment. Maybe you teach Math and you want them to Get in the Mode.  Perhaps you are a History teacher and It's an EPOCH (an Enlightening Period of Captivating History). Name it!

Say Yes to Success with a Bellringer by Using It

Now that you have a name, use it!  Long story short, we eventually ended up using the START for assessment purposes.

How our START Works

1. Students pick up a START handout as they enter the room.  If the beginning of the week, they knew that they would need a new paper.  If not, the students got their folded paper from the class set that we put in a designated location.

2. After obtaining their paper, students would then go to their seat, take out a writing utensil and their notes, and look at the board.

3. On the board, we presented a presentation titled START and a few questions (that require short, a word or so, answers) from the previous day's lesson. Either the students recalled from memory the answer to the question, helping them review and master the material. Or, the students didn't remember the answer to the question, forcing them to find the answer.

4. Now of course, we want all of our students all of the time to get all of the answers correct.  However, this is typically not the case. They need to be held accountable for the information, however. How did we achieve this accountability?  We grade it!  If you are thinking this is complicated, think otherwise.  Let's look back at the students for a moment. When they finish answering the questions (that have short answers remember), they fold their paper in half, write their name on the outside, and turn it in. At this time, we checked it. Within a matter of seconds, we graded it. We would write the ratio for correct answers on their paper in the space for that day. For example, let's suppose the student answered 4 out of 5 questions correctly.  We would write 4/5 on their paper.  NOTE:  You have just collected valuable data for the day that can be used for grouping and more.

5. As you write the number correct on the student's paper, you fold it back, and place it in a stack. The next day, the stack of folded papers is placed at the front of the room for students to pick up as they enter the classroom. Recall that the student's name is written on the outside. So no one, other than the student themselves, see how well they did.

6. At the end of the week, a grade is given. We simply tally the total questions correct and the total questions given and use these numbers to determine a percentage. For example if the student gets 18 questions correct out of 20 for the week, their START grade earned for the week would be 18/20 so a 90 goes I the grade book.

Here's what you need:

1. A name for your bell-work.

2. A handout with the name. CLICK HERE to use mine. You may edit it to fit your needs.

3. A presentation slide with the name.

4. An established routine for turning in papers and collecting the handouts the next day.

5. A plan for students that are absent. Ours is simple. We don't require them to make up the questions missed from their absence. Their percentage is determined by the number of questions they were present for.

What will you name your START?